Apple Crumble

I don't remember exactly when I started baking, but it might have all began around the end of primary school with those kids cookbooks. I have failed in my baking many times - the height of my baking fails would probably be failing even when making a packet cake mixture. Hopefully since then I have improved and now whenever I get a hankering for something sweet after dinner and I don't have many ingredients, I whip up an apple crumble which is especially good on cold winter's nights.

This is a crumble recipe with no oats (since Sir D doesn't like oats) and it produces a crumbly and crunchy crumble at the top. I made this the other night for some friends (with the help of Sir D, debdebdeb and Spud) and it was the perfect end to a great bake night!

Apple Crumble (Serves 4)

4 (medium) apples, peeled, cored and cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tbsp brown sugar
Cinnamon if desired

For the crumble:
60g unsalted butter, softened
90g brown sugar
90g flour

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Place apples, brown sugar and cinnamon in a saucepan and cook on medium heat until the apples are soft and most of the liquid has evaporated. Pour apples into baking tin and set aside.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine butter, brown sugar and flour and crumble with fingers until desired consistency is reached. If you don't want to get your hands dirty you can make sure the butter is very soft and then use a spoon to combine, using the back of the spoon to press the lumps of butter into the dry ingredients. For a crumble that has bigger chunks you can increase the ratio of butter to dry ingredients.

3. Sprinkle crumble evenly over apples. Bake in oven for 40 minutes or until golden brown.