Wholemeal Apple Crumble

Wholemeal Apple Crumble is a classic recipe and can be enjoyed either hot with custard or cold and served with clotted cream. I love making this crumble. It’s great for vegetarians and vegans. It tastes delicious, is healthy and very easy to make. Wholemeal Apple Crumble can be a simple dessert, an afternoon snack or an accompaniment for anything you like: cheesecake, ice cream or just a cup of coffee.

Apple Crumble

Maggie Beer’s Apple Crumble recipe is made specially with Granny Smith apples and Maggie’s famous Verjuice, to give the dish perfectly balanced flavour.

1Preheat oven to 180C.

2Peel, core, and slice the apples into wedges and place them in a medium saucepan.

3Add the lemon zest, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon sticks, and Verjuice. Bring to a gentle simmer, and continue to cook until tender but not mushy (about 20 minutes). Check to see that apple wedges are cooked through.

4Remove the apples from the saucepan, discard the cinnamon and lemon zest, and arrange them in the base of an oven-proof dish.

TO MAKE THE CRUMBLE:

5Mix together the brown sugar, wholemeal flour, oats, and ground cinnamon in a mixing bowl.

6Using a vegetable grater, grate the butter onto the flour mixture, and incorporate using the tips of your fingers until mixed like coarse breadcrumbs.

7Top the apples with the crumble mixture and bake in the oven preheated for 30 minutes, until the crumble is golden brown.

8Allow to cool slightly then serve with Rich Vanilla Bean Ice Cream or runny cream.

9Note: If you’re looking for a sweet treat or to stock up on Maggie Beer cooking essentials, you might enjoy exploring our range of gourmet hampers. 

Whole Grain Maple Apple Crumble

Apple crumble and apple crisp are some of my favorite desserts to make with apples. They’re always delicious and take a lot less prep work than a regular apple pie – which means that I make them a lot more often. I like that an apple crumble can be simple, but that it is easy to put a new spin on it by changing up the spices, the sugars, the type of apples and even by adding whole grains to the mix.

This Whole Grain Maple Apple Crumble just might be my new favorite version of apple crumble. The crisp topping has a nice nuttiness to it – thanks both to whole grain flour and oatmeal – and both the topping and the filling have a subtle maple flavor that makes this crumble addictive. It isn’t too sweet and is a great contrast with the tender apples below. I happen to like a generous amount of topping on an apple crumble and this recipe is no exception to that, either! I tossed the apples in my filling (and you can use any kind of apples you like) with both sugar and maple syrup, and used maple sugar in the crumble topping. Maple sugar can be found at many specialty stores and is, at the moment, available at Trader Joe’s. If you don’t have maple sugar, you can substitute brown sugar or add in a half teaspoon of maple extract to give the topping that maple element.

I prefer white whole wheat flour for this crumble because it lends just the right amount of whole wheat nuttiness for me. If you only have regular whole wheat flour, or prefer it, you can absolutely use that in the recipe instead. As a matter of fact, you can also use all purpose flour without changing anything and still get good results – so you can go whole grain or not whole grain and still have an absolutely delicious maple and apple dessert.

Whole Grain Maple Apple Crumble
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oatmeal (pref. quick cooking)
1/2 cup maple sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 large apples, peeled and cored
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
pinch salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease an 8-inch or 9-inch square baking dish.
In a large bowl, whisk together whole wheat flour, oatmeal, baking soda, maple sugar, spices and salt until well blended. Add in melted butter and vanilla and stir mixture until moist crumbs form.
Slice apples into wedges, getting 10-12 slices per apple. Place apples in a large bowl and toss with sugar, maple syrup and a pinch of salt.
Transfer apples to prepared pan. Sprinkle crumble mixture evenly over the top of the apple slices.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, until apples are tender when pierced with a knife. Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Serves 6-8.

Paul’s apple and blackberry crumble

Paul Hollywood adds a twist to the traditional apple crumble topping with the addition of seeds, oats and shony, a sweet and salty powdered seaweed. Serve with custard, cream or ice cream.

Ingredients

For the filling

• 500g/1lb 2oz cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
• 25g/1oz butter
• 75g/2½oz caster sugar
• 250g/9oz blackberries

For the crumble topping

• 100g/3½oz plain wholemeal flour
• 75g/2½oz porridge oats
• 2 tsp shony (powdered seaweed)
• 100g/3½oz soft dark brown sugar
• 75g/2½oz unsalted butter, chilled, cut into roughly 1cm/½in cubes
• 25g/1oz sunflower seeds
• 15g/½oz pumpkin seeds

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. For the filling, put the apples, butter and sugar in a pan. Cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the sugar has dissolved and the fruit is just beginning to collapse. Taste and add more sugar if required. Stir in the blackberries and transfer the mixture to an oven dish and set aside.
3. To make the crumble topping, combine the flour, oats, powdered seaweed and sugar in a bowl. Add the butter and rub in lightly with your fingertips until the mix resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
4. Using a pestle and mortar or a small food processor, crush the seeds so they break down a little. Do not reduce them to a fine powder. Stir the crushed seeds into the crumble mixture.
5. Spoon the crumble mixture over the filling. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until golden-brown and bubbling. Leave to settle for about 10 minutes before serving.