The best apple crumble (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to good crumble? ›

Like an apple crisp, an apple crumble is a baked fruit dessert with a layer of topping. But unlike the crisp, the crumble topping rarely includes oats or nuts. Instead, a crumble's topping is more like streusel, made with flour, sugar and butter.

Sauteing the apples prevents a soggy topping

If you've ever had an apple crumble that wasn't crunchy, it's because the fruit was not pre-cooked before baking. Adding the apples raw to the baking pan will steam and release too much moisture.

A crumble is just a crisp without oats in the streusel. It may feature nuts, but the streusel topping is usually a simple combination of butter, flour, and sugar that is more clumpy than that of a crisp.

The main reason your crumble topping isn't crunchy is probably because you haven't used Demerara sugar. Although, it could also be that you've got your topping ingredient quantities wrong: either too much or not enough flour and butter alongside the sugar.

Double-baking the crumb topping keeps it wonderfully crisp over its jammy fruit filling.

Under the simple butter-sugar-flour-and-oat topping is the apple filling scented with cinnamon. Our test kitchen says baking apples, like Rome or Cortland, are the best varieties to use for apple crisp, but Empire, Gala, or Braeburn apples are also good in this recipe.

This has led some historians to believe that Betty was the name of the cook and creator of the recipe and that brown was in reference to her skin color.

A brown betty is similar to a crisp or crumble, except the topping is layered into the fruit mixture before baking for an intensely crunchy effect. Food Network Kitchen's Grilled Rhubarb Brown Betty is warm, sweet and super-crisp — excellent when served with a scoop of strawberry ice cream.

If you use more butter than the recipe calls for, the crumb topping will be melted and greasy. If you don't use enough butter it will be dry and floury.

Why put baking powder in crumble topping? ›

A crisp contains oats in the topping, while a crumble does not. Baking powder can also be added to a crumble topping (like it is here) to ensure it's extra light and tender.

Bake for 40–45 minutes until the crumble is browned and the fruit mixture bubbling. Serve with thick cream or custard.

Both are very similar apple desserts, but the difference mainly comes down to the crumble topping: Instead of the flour and oat mixture used in an apple crisp, an apple brown betty uses breadcrumbs for its crumbly, delicious topping.

Combining white sugar with molasses may be a better brown sugar substitute, but if you don't have molasses, other liquid sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, or agave nectar will work as well. You should mix a tablespoon or two of the liquid sweetener into a scant 1 cup of white sugar to replace a cup of brown sugar.

I lay my topping out on a baking tray and toast it in a fairly hot oven. Then put it on the crumble fruit at the last moment and straight back in the oven. That way it doesn't get soggy.

Butter, which encourages both browning and crispness, is the magic ingredient in getting your topping just right, so follow the recipe instructions. But if you feel your topping is still too dry and crumbly, (even for a crumble) add a bit more melted butter, a tablespoon at a time.