How to make crumble successfully every time
As long as you always have fruit in the freezer, you’re never far away from a crumble. Perhaps the easiest dessert ever, apart from ready-made vanilla custard (our other favorite).
Whether you want to make an apple crumble pie, turn some leftover frozen fruit into a dessert, or have found some incredible plums at the market. Having a good crumble in your repertoire is a must. It’s delicious even without fruit—try sprinkling it over vanilla ice cream or yogurt, for example.
The ratio
Are you making a baking dish for ten people or just filling a ramekin for a lovely evening by yourself? As long as you roughly stick to the ratio of flour, sugar, and butter, it’ll be absolutely fine. Use 1 part sugar to 2 parts flour and 1.25 parts butter. For example: 75 g flour, 150 g flour, 100 g butter. Crumble is the most forgiving baked good ever; a spoonful more or less flour doesn’t make that much difference.
Extras
The most basic version contains only flour, sugar, butter, and a pinch of salt, but you can basically add anything you like. Oats or nuts provide a firm bite and extra flavor, and feel free to add spices too. Many recipes use cinnamon, but you can also add nutmeg, cardamom, or ground ginger.
Cold butter
Make sure the butter is cold and cut it into small pieces. The quickest way to make crumble is to chop all the ingredients in a food processor until everything is well mixed. I always find cleaning and putting away that thing a chore, though, and using your hands works just as well. Just make sure your hands are cold (hold them under the cold tap for a moment if necessary) so the butter doesn’t get too warm. Cold butter produces the crunchiest crumble.
Baking
Don’t bake a crumble at too high a temperature. Around 175–180 °C is perfect. Bake until the crumble is beautifully golden brown all over. If you’re baking the crumble as a topping without baking fruit along with it, give it a quick stir halfway through for even browning. It varies from oven to oven, but start checking after about 35 minutes; it may also need 50 minutes.
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