apple crumble

I listened to mark bittman and also to my instincts.

We had 2 and a half bags of apples, 3 cartons of pears, and ripening was happening fast. (apple picking is tempting but dangerous). So I made apple desserts all weekend: two apple crumbles and an apple pie. I wasn't in love with this apple pie, so I'll post about it when I am ready to try again. Hopefully you will hear about gina marie's peach pie soon! (mouth wateringly delicious. peaches are truly a gift, and so is gina...)

but the apple crumble - you can't really do wrong... I followed mark bittman's recipe for streusel topping in "How to Cook Everything" - I don't have it in front of me - but something like this: put a stick of butter and 1 cup of brown sugar in the mixer. cream together. add a little cinnamon, a pinch of salt. add half a cup of chopped nuts (I did this in one and skipped them in the other - I sorta liked it better without, but it depends on whether you like nuts.) finally, slowly mix in a cup of flour. it will get crumbly. leave it in the bowl (I refrigerated one bowl of topping over night before using to no ill effect.)


the apples - I made them like I make apple pie: cut the apples up (about 16 pieces per apple) (7-8 apples for the big pan you see in the picture - I used 6 apples for the smaller pan that I forgot to photograph.) mix with a tablespoon of brown sugar, juice of half a lemon, and 1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon, nutmeg and ground cloves (you can add mace or allspice too, if you want. Did you know mace is part of the nutmeg plant? so cool. Ok, moving on.)

Toss the apple mixture. put it in the buttered glass pan, cover with crumble, somewhat evenly. Cook at 400 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes in the oven.

eat with ice cream for dessert or just warmed up for breakfast. it's pretty good.