Cinnamon laced baked apples are a must in fall and winter. Try them with this crunchy and nutty topping to make a perfect dessert. Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream and you are in heaven!
prep time 15 min cook time 35-40 min
ingredients for 6-8
- 1 kg (2.2lbs) apples, I used Granny Smith and Annurca Apples*
- 30g (1oz) granulated sugar**
- cinnamon to sprinkle
- 1/2 dl (1/8cup) water
crumble
- 70g (2.5oz) white or wholemeal flour
- 70g (2.5oz) rolled oats
- 50g (1.75oz) brown sugar
- 150g (5.3oz) of roughly chopped walnuts***
- 50g (1.75oz) sunflower seeds
- 100g (3.5oz) butter
topping
- scoops of vanilla ice cream
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F
2. Peel, halve, core and cut the apples into chunks.
3. Place the apples in a slightly buttered 20 cm x 20 cm (8″x8″) glass baking dish and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon (I put A LOT of cinnamon). Add 1/2 dl of water.
4. Put the dry crumble ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well. Chop the butter into small cubes and add these to the bowl. Mix and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture has formed small clumps.
5. Cover the fruit with this crumble mixture.
6. Bake for 35-40 min until golden and crisp.
7. Spoon warm crumble into bowls and serve with vanilla ice cream.
*Annurca Apples are grown in Campania region. They have a smooth, waxy, thick greenish-yellow skin ripening to streaked red, with russetting around the stem area. Inside, they have firm, crispy, white juicy flesh. They have a very good flavour that is neither overly sweet nor sharp. Having said that, I would go with any cooking apples or winter apples for this dessert.
** I found a world of sugars ploughing through apple crumble recipes. While I understand that not all sugars are created equal and that different types have very specific uses, I honestly don’t think that substituting granulated sugar for caster sugar or brown sugar for light muscovado sugar will make such a huge difference in a home baked apple crumble. I also used considerably less sugar compared to many recipes found on the internet because I just don’t care for overly sweet.
*** I used a mix of walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds
BUON APPETITO!