Nigel Slater's apple crumble with oats

Nigel Slater's apple crumble with oats
Prepare
less than 30 mins
Cook
30 mins to 1 hour
Serve
Serves 4

Adding oats to your crumble topping does add extra fibre, but it mainly just tastes good and gives great crunch. If you hate soggy crumble toppings this is the apple crumble for you!

By Nigel Slater

From A Taste of My Life

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Ingredients

Recipe tips
How-to videos

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.

  2. Wipe the apples and cut them into quarters, then remove the cores and slice each piece in two. Put them in a pan, taste a slice for sweetness and add a sprinkling of sugar accordingly. Add a tablespoon of water or apple juice and cook over a medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the apples start to soften.

  3. Transfer the apple mixture to a shallow ovenproof dish.

  4. Blend the flour and butter in a food processor for a few seconds, until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. (You can rub the butter into the flour by hand if you don't have a food processor.)

  5. Stir in the oats and the sugar. Sprinkle the crumble topping over the cooked apples.

  6. Transfer to the oven to bake for 30 minutes or until crisp and golden-brown on top.

Recipe tips

Giving the apples a headstart on the hob before baking the crumble ensures they are transformed into a fluffy purée. You can also taste for sweetness as apples do vary significantly. At this stage you can also add a little bit of cinnamon to the apples, if you like.

This makes quite a light layer of oaty crumble topping. If you like a thicker, more floury crumble topping tray our traditional apple crumble.