Apple Crumble

I always slice my apples too, and cook the whole thing nice a slowly. I love a good crumble.

Or microwave the apple for a few minutes before it goes in the oven.

Are you using cooking apples? Dessert apples remain hard when you cook them. I slice the apples rather than chopping them. Make the crumble topping and bake at 180° for about 40minutes.

Try microwaving the apple just a little, before it goes into the crumble? This has worked for me; it just softens the apple a little. (Don't put any water or sugar in with the apple.) Cooking it in the microwave makes it very easy to "monitor" - you can try going just ten seconds at a time, in order not to "over-cook".

Instead of chopping the apples, try slicing them fairly thinly; about half an inch or so. That should enable them to cook more evenly.