Oaty Apple Crumble

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5 from 2 votes

Oats make a great addition to a crumble topping

Prep Time10

Cook Time40

Total Time50

Course: Dessert, Household, Pudding

Cuisine: English

Diet: Dairy Free, Nut Free, Vegetarian

Other: Freezes Well

Servings:

Calories: 472.7kcal

Author: Thrifty Lesley

Cost: 18p

Equipment

chopping board
small sharp knife
mixing bowl
large mixing spoon
oven proof dish

Ingredients

For the base

240 g apples about 3 fruits, 16p each, 48p

For the crumble topping

80 g flour value flour, doesn’t matter if s.r. or plain 45p/1.5kg, 2p
50 g sugar 65p/1kg, 3p
100 ml veg oil £1.09/litre, 11p
80 g oats the cheapest ones, 75p/1kg, 6p

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

First of all prepare your apples. If you don't mind the peel, quarter them and scoop out the tough little core and pips. Then chop and put in an ovenproof dish.
240 g apples
There is no need to put sugar on the fruit, it just adds unnecessary sweetness
To speed up things in the oven, I like to microwave the apple pieces for a couple of minutes to semi-cook them. You don't have to, it just takes longer in the oven if you don't
Now take all the dry topping ingredients, tip them into a mixing bowl and stir.
80 g flour, 50 g sugar, 80 g oats
Add the oil and stir again
100 ml veg oil
Spread it evenly over the fruit, doesn’t matter at all if the fruit shows through, it all melds together when cooked
Cook in a medium oven for 40 minutes – it needs that long to cook the apples through. Or 30 minutes f you've pre-cooked the fruit

Notes

If you are following meal plan three, you can have all of this crumble for your second meal on Day 7 if you wish, or you could save 2 portions for another day, up to you

See the post for lots of ideas for variations

What changes can I make

Add a sprinkle of any or all of sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds.
Add a handful of chopped nuts, any kind
Almost any fruit will make a tasty crumble. As well as those below, how about apricot, cherry or peach. I’ve never tried pineapple – would that work do you think?

Apple

toasted, chopped almonds or toasted chopped pecans and cinnamon/mixed spice in the topping (mix in a tsp cinnamon/mixed spice and smell the mix, repeat until you can smell the spice), serve with cinnamon ice cream
This post has an easy recipe to make ice cream. For cinnamon ice cream, make the base recipe, then stir in cinnamon. Try a little to start with, stir well and smell and taste the mix. Does it taste of as much cinnamon as you would like? If not, add more and repeat
lemon zest and toasted hazlenuts in the crumble, serve with lemon ice cream
plain topping or with hazelnuts, stir a couple of cloves into the apple, serve with custard or cream
toasted walnuts in topping. serve with dark muscovado ice cream

Pear

toasted walnuts and demerara sugar in topping, serve with coffee ice cream

Plum

toasted walnuts and muscovado sugar in topping, and use wholemeal flour

Rhubarb

finely chopped ginger/stem ginger in the fruit or the topping, serve with ginger ice cream
orange zest in the topping mix or the fruit

Gooseberry

add sugar or a good splash of undiluted elderflower cordial, serve with elderflower ice cream

Mixed Fruit

A super simple, and seasonal, crumble is to use mincemeat. Simply tip a 400g sized jar of mincemeat in the dish and top with crumble mix. Delicious!
Jack Monroe has posted a delicous sounding Christmas crumble using mixed fruit and peel and tinned mandarins, I will definitely be trying that one – sounds super yummy

Can I change the topping?

As well as all the varieties above, you can change the topping in this particular way. I have made crumbles with no flour at all, just oats. You can barely tell the difference (bearing in mind we always have half oats in the topping)

I've also successfully made it using just breadcrumbs in place of oats and flour. This was a very light version, with a certain crispiness to it.

Nutrition