Apple Crumble

Soft, lightly spiced apples under a crisp, golden, buttery crumble. It's the ultimate no-fuss pudding — a handful of storecupboard ingredients and about 15 minutes of prep for pure comfort.

Apple crumble is the definition of a comforting British pudding — soft spiced apples, a crunchy golden top, and a jug of custard to pour over. It’s almost impossible to get wrong, and the crumble topping is a useful one to have in your back pocket for any fruit that needs using up. The one rule: don’t press the topping down, so it stays light and crisp.

Ingredients

• 800g cooking or eating apples — peeled and sliced
• 2 tbsp caster sugar — for the apples
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 200g plain flour
• 100g cold butter — cubed
• 100g demerara or caster sugar — for the topping
• 50g porridge oats — optional, for crunch

Method

1. Heat the oven to 190°C (fan 170°C). Toss the sliced apples with the 2 tbsp sugar and the cinnamon and tip into a baking dish.
2. For the topping, rub the cold butter into the flour with your fingertips until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs.
3. Stir in the sugar and oats.
4. Scatter the crumble evenly over the apples, without pressing it down.
5. Bake for 35–40 minutes until the topping is golden and crisp and the apples are bubbling at the edges.

Serve it with

• Hot custard
• Vanilla ice cream
• A drizzle of double cream
• A spoon of Greek yogurt

Why this works

Rubbing cold butter into the flour and leaving the topping loose (not pressed down) traps air, so it bakes into a light, crunchy crumble rather than a dense layer. The oats add extra crunch, and a little cinnamon lifts the apples without overpowering them.

Common swaps

• Add blackberries, pears or a handful of raisins to the fruit.
• Stir chopped nuts into the topping for extra crunch.
• Use half wholemeal flour for a nuttier crumble.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Pressing the topping down, which makes it dense instead of crumbly.
• Using warm butter, so it clumps rather than rubbing into crumbs.
• Undercooking, so the apples stay firm — they should be soft and bubbling.

Storage, freezing & reheating

Storage: Keep covered in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Freezing: Freezes well for up to 3 months, cooked or uncooked.

Reheating: Reheat in the oven until piping hot and the topping re-crisps.

Allergen notes: contains gluten, milk. Always check individual product labels.

Estimated nutrition

Per serving, estimated from typical ingredient values — not a substitute for precise dietary calculation.