Today we share a delicious recipe from our Dutch friend and colleague Janneke Philippi. She is our first ‘Kitchen Table Friend’ or ‘guest blogger’ and we are delighted and proud to have her. She and her husband, Serge, who is a photographer, published several beautiful cookbooks (unfortunately, they have not yet been translated into English). Janneke also writes for several Dutch food magazines such as delicious. This simple but scrumptious crumble is from her latest cookbook ‘My Favorite Desserts’ with over 150 easy to prepare recipes. We are eager to try them all, but will start with this warm and comforting apple crumble, which we never get tired of. Don’t forget to read Janneke’s useful tips at the bottom of the recipe.
Serves 4
Acton Time: 20 minutes + 25-30 minutes baking
18 oz/ 500 g apples
1/2 cup/ 4.4 oz/ 125 g sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
3.5 tbsp/ 50 g unsalted butter, flaked
2/3 cup/ 2.6 oz/ 75 g all-purpose flour, sifted
Extra: greased ovenproof dish (25 fl oz/ 750 ml capacity)
1 Preheat the oven tot 400°F/ 200°C. Quarter the apples, cut out the core and peel them. Cut the apples into cubes. Put them in the oven dish and mix in 50 g sugar and the cinnamon.
2 Put the remaining sugar, the butter, the flour and a pinch of salt in a bowl and rub it between your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Scatter the crumble mixture over the apples.
3 Bake the crumble in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until the topping is golden and the juices are bubbling through. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.
Janneke’s Tips
– Variations: Replace the apples by mixed berries, peaches, plums or any other juicy fruit.
– Let the crumble sit for 10 minutes after baking to allow the crust to firm up. You can also serve the crumble at room temperature.
– Each apple variety has its own taste and texture. You have soft, sweet apples and firm, tart apples. For the best result I often use a mix of apple varieties. Good commercial apples for baking are Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Jona Gold and Honeycrisp. Also look for heirloom apples at Farmer’s Markets, like the flavorful Gold Rush or the late seasonal Hauer Pippin.
-Apple and rhubarb: a marriage made in heaven. Replace half of the apples by rhubarb cut into small pieces .
– You don’t need a food processor for making the crumble topping, you’ll get the best result when you do it by hand. If necessary you can mix in 1-2 tablespoons of cold milk.
– Add a little extra to the crumble topping:
- For extra aroma add finely chopped fresh herbs, such as thyme, rosemary or mint
- Spice it up with some dried crushed chili pepper
- For extra bite add a small hand of oat meal
- Add some chopped nuts, like hazelnuts or walnuts
- Mix in some lemon, orange or lime zest
- Add spices like cinnamon, nutmeg or black pepper
– Prepare the crumble topping ahead and freeze it in a plastic bag. Sprinkle the frozen crumbles over the fruit and bake the dessert for an extra few minutes.