Adventures in Apple Picking: Apple Crumble

I can't believe November is upon us! October passed way too quickly for my liking, but I was fortunate to squeeze in an October day of apple picking at Boston Hill Farm with my friends Nicole and Justina. It was a glorious fall afternoon, perfect temperature, bright and sunny, and meant for apples.

Neither Nicole nor Justina had ever gone apple picking when they were growing up, an egregious misfortune that I wanted to remedy. I grew up going apple picking, sometimes several times in one season. My father has an apple obsession that's almost incomprehensible. He takes his apple picking very seriously, overfilling the house with many, many pounds of apples. I too felt the pull to pick this fall. I guess some things are genetic!

So what does one do when she comes home with 12 pounds of apples? Bake! :) I picked a few Macoun apples, but the majority of my bag was lovely ginger gold apples. They're a yellow-green with a pink blush on them and have a wonderful, creamy texture. They are a nice balance of tart and sweet. They're fantastic to just munch on, but everyone knows the addition of butter and sugar makes everything better.

I decided to use a few ginger gold apples in a nice apple crumble (interesting factoid: an apple crisp is basically the same thing as an apple crumble except that the topping on a crisp is a finer, breadcrumb texture and a crumble's topping is chunkier). These apples brown very slowly after you cut them, so even though it was a couple of minutes between the time I finished chopping them and the time I finished combining my ingredients, they hadn't changed color. This recipe would work well with any baking apple. I highly recommend it! It's a simple, unfussy dessert that is extremely hearty and delicious. We ate our warm out of the oven with a dollop of yummy vanilla Greek yogurt. After the leftovers cooled in the pan, we wrapped it in foil and stashed it in the fridge. Just portion out a serving and reheat in the microwave. Yum!

Super Simple Apple Crumble

• 6 ginger gold (or other baking) apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
• 1 1/2 cups of rolled oats
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 stick of unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter a square baking pan (8x8 or 9x9, whatever you've got).

Combine all the ingredients except for the apples and the butter in a large zip-top plastic bag, seal, and shake to combine. Cut the butter into small bits and add to the bag. Reseal the bag and knead the butter bits into the dry ingredients until the mixture holds together.

Heap the apples into the prepared pan. Crumble the topping all over the apples.

Bake uncovered for 40 to 45 minutes until the crumble is golden brown and the juices are bubbly. Or, if you're like me and you made enough topping to completely cover your dessert so you can't see the apples, you'll know it's ready when your house starts to smell amaaaaaazing. Carefully scoop out and enjoy the bliss.

 

Stay tuned. My next adventure in apple use is going to be an apple cake!