Making apple crumble

Crumble mixes from supermarkets all seem to use palm oil and rapeseed oil. Can’t see how they can taste as good as butter.

Upthread!

I was thinking the same, J52. M&S and Ocado butter is £2 / 250g, or 2 for £3.60.
As someone uptrend said, Stork is fine for crumbles. My Mum always used a fork for mixing the butter in, too.

watermeadow

Hurrah to hear that the melted butter method works!
I always cook the apples first, at least partially. Is that usual?
We have several community orchards where the fruit is lying under the trees and nobody appears to bother gathering it to eat raw or to cook. Apple crumble needs free fruit now butter costs £5 per block.

£5 a block of butter!! Where do you live? I’ve never paid that much for butter.

5oz flour, 1oz oats, 3ozbutter rubbed in until breadcrumbs then 2/3 oz brown sugar. I pop it in the freezer in a big plastic bag and use as required mostly with a packet of my frozen stewed apples and ice cream.

Grandmotherto8 I like your idea of baking the crumble topping for 15 minutes. I've been given some baking apples so will give your method a try tomorrow.

Whizz it in a food processor….. I do my pastry that way …. Perfect and no effort

I mash the butter in with a fork -if managing the fork is any easier?

Our granddaughter made such perfect crumble - under my tuition!-when she was a toddler, that I just left it to her when we were staying with her and her mum till she could start nursery. Sadly we are back home hundreds of miles away at the top end of the UK while they remain in Devon. She is now a fantastic baker now though...

watermeadow

Hurrah to hear that the melted butter method works!
I always cook the apples first, at least partially. Is that usual?
We have several community orchards where the fruit is lying under the trees and nobody appears to bother gathering it to eat raw or to cook. Apple crumble needs free fruit now butter costs £5 per block.

We have a house not far from us which has six beautiful apple trees outside - every year they are laden with apples and every year, without fail, those apples fall off and are left to rot. I can't understand it. The owners have had the house since it was built and clearly planted those trees, yet the fruit just goes to waste. It drives me mad.

Oh yes Witzend, it’s the one case where a soggy bottom is essential.

Allegretto

I melt the butter and then stir in sugar, flour, oats (& sometimes ground almonds). Works a treat.

Yes, I put ground almonds in too, a hangover from when we needed to use many ways of subterfuge to get protein into a small grandson.

Ground hazelnuts are great with apple crumble too.

Get the butter really cold and pulse it into the flour with a liquidiser.

I always have a bag of Delia's crumble in the freezer and confess to using a tin of apples slices- mixed with a bit of soft brown sugar and juice of half a lemon. Really tempted to have a go at melting the butter method though.

I use quite soft butter and just cut it through the flour with a table knife and fork. I hate rubbing-in and although I do have one of the hand-held gadgets I hate washing it, a knife and fork works well enough. I do like oats in my crumble topping!

So many great crumble recipes here, thanks all for sharing

Grandmotherto8

I do it the Raymond Blanc way. Butter, flour & sugar, then bake the crumble mixture on a baking tray for about 15 mins before putting it on top of the fruit. Wonderful crispy topping with none of that soggy layer you can get when you cook the raw crumble on top of the fruit.

I like the soggy layer!

Hurrah to hear that the melted butter method works!
I always cook the apples first, at least partially. Is that usual?
We have several community orchards where the fruit is lying under the trees and nobody appears to bother gathering it to eat raw or to cook. Apple crumble needs free fruit now butter costs £5 per block.

I’ve tried the crumble mix and I really didn’t rate it. I use my food processor to make the crumble. It’s a great investment for tired hands.

watermeadow

There’s a glut of apples this year and we all love crumbles but my weak old hands will no longer rub butter into flour.
I’ve seen American recipes which melt the butter. Has anyone done this and does it make a proper crumble? Butter is too expensive to waste now so I’m reluctant to try it.
And no oats. Proper crumble has no oats.

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My crumble must be improper then!
Hope the neighbours don't know

We don't like a 'fine breadcrumb crumble' topping. Boring
Just like the ones you see at the supermarket.
Much prefer a rougher chunkier one. Much nicer texture.

Flour. Porridge Oats. Demerara Sugar. Butter.

I don't finger the butter to disappear but leave it in chunks (about the size of a round sixpence).

Absolutely delish. And much the same as that served in English Country House Hotels. (In fact it was the then chef in probably the most famous and top hotel in the UK who gave me the information about 15-years ago - oh, and if using apples mix cinnamon in with them.
Rhubarb? The juice and zest of a small orange added to the fruit).

Either Custard or Double cream goes fantastically well.

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Grandmama

I posted this recently on the puddings forum. I make a flapjack-type topping. Easy and no rubbing in.

2-2-4 proportions: 2oz butter, melted. Stir in 2 oz of sugar (demerara or dark or light brown sugar) and 4 oz of porridge oats (or make up some of the weight with a few seeds). Add a spice if liked. Use to top the stewed fruit and bake - gas mark 4.

Now that sounds good - and easy! I might try that next time I make a crumble.

I've got a brilliant recipe from an old Jocelyn Dimbleby book using melted butter into which combine plain flour, sugar and nuts. You could easily add oats. The recipe uses uncooked apples onto which you spread the flour /butter/sugar cinnamon which looks lumpy but is delicious. Off the top of my head I think the proportions were 4oz butter, 4oz brown sugar, 6oz plain ( add 2oz oats) 1 tsp cinnamon oppt nut add the dry ingredients to melted butter. Bake moderate oven 35mins- yum!

My hands always seem to ache from pruning .
So I'm careful with certain activities.
If asking a crumble I always cut the butter into very small pieces before rubbing in .
Originally I cut it up because my hands were far too hot to rub in .
I always had a huge bowl of cold water with ice cubes to cool them if making pastry .
Now I buy Jus Roll .

I am going to try the melted butter method though. (Last weekend I made a fruit flan from a book I have had for years - the base was melted butter, flour and sugar and just had to be pressed into the tin. It was yummy.)

Jan51

I've just bought one of these for cutting the butter into the flour. I had one years ago but must have chucked it out when I moved house.

This works for me too - got arthritis in my thumbs and I can’t rub fat into flour anymore. I can honestly say I’m making the best pastry I’ve ever made in my life!