October is the height of apple season, and the simplest British recipe works for a Sunday dessert. A crumble is baked apples under a layer of sweet, crunchy topping.

The apple crumble recipe was shared by the British food magazine Good Food.

The topping is made from flour, sugar and cold butter rubbed together with the fingertips. There is no dough to knead or roll out.

What you need

Serves 4. For the filling:

  • tart cooking apples (Bramley in the original), 575 g, about 3 medium;
  • golden caster sugar, 2 tbsp.

For the crumble:

  • plain flour, 175 g;
  • golden caster sugar, 110 g;
  • cold butter, 110 g;
  • salt, a pinch;
  • rolled oats, 1 tbsp, optional;
  • demerara sugar, 1 tbsp, optional.

How to cook

1. Prepare the apples. Heat the oven to 190 °C (170 °C fan). Peel, core and slice the apples 1 cm thick. Toss with 2 tbsp sugar, put in a 23 cm round dish at least 5 cm deep (or a 20 cm square one) and press down lightly.

2. Make the crumble. Mix the flour, 110 g sugar and a pinch of salt. Add the cold butter in pieces and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like moist breadcrumbs. You can also do this in a food processor.

3. Top the apples. Scatter the crumble over the apples, level it and press down lightly with a fork. If you like, sprinkle with oats and demerara sugar.

4. Bake. Put the dish on a baking tray and bake for 35–40 minutes until the top is golden and the apples are very soft when pierced with a knife.

5. Rest. Leave to cool for 10 minutes.

Serve the crumble warm with cream, vanilla ice cream or custard.

As a reminder, new-season apples also make yeast-free fritters.

Nota bene

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