Apple Crumble

Haven't done a dessert in awhile, which makes for sad times.

But I was inspired by the autumn storm we had last week, the sudden cool and cloudy weather, and... BAM! The crap-ton of apple varieties that have landed in Whole Foods. Not that it matters as to which ones I use - I'm pretty set - but all those colors, the fragrance... shiny streaks of green and red and yellow all over the produce department.

Sad times are over, my friends. You can now enjoy delicious apple crumble in the comfort of your own home.

It smells like fall, and I'm not kidding even a little.

I have grown fond of the favorite apple pairing of America's Test Kitchen (that is, to say, for baking in fruit desserts). They always seem to use a 50/50 ratio of Granny Smith to McIntosh. Their reasoning, and I agree, is that the grannies hold their shape and provide the appley tartness that is so agreeable in baked apples, and the macs break down into this thick appley filling base and add unmatchably appley perfume and flavor. A good McIntosh apple is round, has a shiny skin (that is green and red in patches or smudged streaks) that "pops" when you bite into it, flesh that is soft (but never mealy) and succulent and green-tinted white with the occasional streak of red. If you were presented with one apple from each variety found in your grocery store (mac among them), blindfolded, and given an apple "smell test," you should be able to unquestionably pick out the McIntosh in the group by its most enticing fragrance. Go. Try. This. Now.

Note that you can use whatever kind of apples you want. You can use one kind, or seven kinds, or any amount in between. As long as you have the right amount of apple, you're probably going to be OK.

The recipe for apple crisp in my Baking Illustrated book influenced the recipe I came up with, but mine is by no means a copy of it. I haven't even tried their recipe, actually, but in true America's Test Kitchen style, in making it "the best" apple crisp, they also made the process kind of involved. More than is necessary. I can see how that would be warranted in making cake (I swear by their cake recipes, by the way), but this is apple crisp... peasant food.

Anybody should be able to make it, and not be discouraged, and see how simple and beautiful and wonderful it is. For me, this is a close-your-eyes-and-be-a-child-eating-dessert-that-mom-made-while-watching-colorful-leaves-fall-outside kind of food. It reminds me of simple times, a warm home, a cooking mother, and quiet. Not dead-silence quiet, though... The kind of quiet in which the breeze outside can be heard by the whispering of dry leaves and murmuring of cedar boughs, and the tiniest raindrops falling delicately on the roof and massaging your mind. The kind of quiet that means you're safe.

It occurs to me that maybe, to you, that kind of feeling is invoked by the odor of Kraft Macaroni 'n' Cheese from a box, glopping away on the stove like some kind of top-secret government chemical that's going to turn you into the Joker when you fall in/eat it. And hey, that's OK, but it doesn't mean you can't enjoy apple crumble. It only means that I will not be indulging your particular affliction on my blog. For what it's worth, I don't even know if my mother ever made apple crumble when I was a kid, but I know we had homemade apple pie, and the flavors are similar.


APPLE CRUMBLE

3/4 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped finely
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
3 largish Granny Smith apples (or whatever kind you want)
4 medium McIntosh apples (or whatever kind you want; total weight of all varieties of apples should be about 3lbs)
1 tbsp lemon juice

1. Start by making the crumble topping. Make sure your nuts are chopped prior to mixing them with other things (should be obvious, but you never know, these days). I use the food processor because it's very fast and easy, but if you don't have one, you can definitely chop them by hand. They should be pretty fine, but some larger chunks are OK - it's really up to you.

Mix the nuts, brown sugar, oats, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix it up good. Don't worry if your brown sugar is a little clumpy; some pea-sized sugar clumps will only enhance the crumble experience.



2. Your butter can be cut into whatever small size you want, as long as it's under 3/4". I generally go with 1/2". Make sure it's cold, or you'll get a mushy topping.



Using a pastry blender (see tool above in bowl) or a fork, cut the butter into the dry mixture. "Cutting" the butter into a mixture means you toss it in, and press down on it with your pastry blender or fork and stir it around to break it into smaller pieces and mix it into the dry stuff. Your end goal is a clumpy mixture, NOT a homogenous mush. It should look much like this, when you're done:



There will still be pieces of butter in there, but they should be small. When it's satisfactorily clumpy, stick it in the fridge so it doesn't soften up.

3. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Prepare for the filling by mixing the sugar and ginger in a wee bowl. You want it to be evenly distributed over the apples, so mixing it first works well.

4. Now you can make the filling. This is by far the most time-consuming work of this dish, or really any apple pie-type baked dish. All of your apples should be cored, cut into eighths (top-to-bottom slices), peeled, and each eighth cut in half. I don't recommend using a corer/slicer tool, because it makes the slices too fat. You'd have to cut them each in half lengthwise, and I think it would take you even more time (unless you can find one that cuts into eight slices). Start by scooping out the top and bottom of the apple (removing the stem and the flower end). I do this by carving them out in a cone shape (thank you, Jacques Pépin!), but you can do it however you want.



Then cut the apple in half down the middle, and do the same with the core: scoop it out of each half. I also do this by carving out a cone.



Cut each half in half, and then each quarter in half, so you get eight identical slices. Peel them (this should go pretty fast) and then cut them in half so you get two chunks.



If you have both Granny Smith and McIntosh to work with, I recommend starting with the grannies for two reasons. One, they don't turn brown as fast once they're cut. Two, they're more difficult to cut and peel, and you should always get the tough stuff out of the way when you can. After them, macs cut and peel awfully smoothly. Like taking apart an orange. Only, with a knife and maybe a vegetable peeler.

5. Once you have all your apples cut up (it should take you about 15 minutes to do all of them), chuck them in a large bowl (you can actually do this as you go). Right away, toss them in the lemon juice.



Sprinkle the sugar/ginger mixture over the top, and stir them until all the apples are coated and the whole thing starts to look wet. Dump them all into an 8x8-inch square glass baking dish, or similar volume glass baking dish. At this point in my culinary adventure I wished for a more attractive baking dish.



But then I remembered how much fun it always is to pack up all my belongings and move from home to home, so I felt grateful that I only had one.

6. Anyway, crumble your refrigerated topping over the apples, as evenly as you can get it.



And stick it in the middle of the oven and leave it there for 45 minutes. When it's ready, the top will have browned a bit and the apples should have gotten all bubbly. And you'll start to smell it after about 30 minutes. Savor this fragrance.



Let it rest about 15 minutes before you dig in, or it will burn your mouth and run amok all over your plate.

Oh, and it's spectacular with vanilla ice cream, when it's still hot.

I really need some decorative plates to use for food photography! I mean, I like my plates, but there's no variety after awhile. I did see some pretty ones at Ross for like, $1 per plate. I might go for it.

But then again, I might have to move again some day (in fact, I sure hope I get to move again some day)...

I really liked this apple crumble. It was easy and simple and had just the right amount of everything.

And it's just perfect for making your home smell wonderful.