A humble English dessert for special occasions
Flour, butter and sugar are the three ingredients to prepare a crumble. It is a dessert of British character devised during the Second World War and that can already be found in restaurants and cafés around the globe. The recipe arose for an economic reason, since it was cheaper to make this sweet than a traditional sponge cake.
This dough or cover is the result of uniting the three foods mentioned above and those that make up a traditional cookie dough or tea paste.
The crumble is usually made with a very thin base of shortcrust pastry, used for apple pies. Then, fresh or sautéed fruits, such as berries, pears, cherries, rhubarb or apples, are incorporated and covered with brittle dough. Once ready, it is baked which makes it crunchy, counteracting the acidity of the fruit. You can add citrus zest, orange blossom water or a touch of vanilla essence.
Take a spin on the popular crumble incorporating a pastry cream. If you have guests, you can serve it in small clay pots or cut it into squares, as if it were a cake. Take it tempered and with a scoop of ice cream or a spoonful of whipped cream.
Ingredients for 6 people
For the dough
- 50 ml of very cold water
- 150 g of wheat flour
- 75 g of cold butter cut into pieces
- 1 pinch of salt
- For the pastry cream
- 250 ml of whole milk
- ½ cinnamon stick
- 45 g of sugar
- 20 g of fine corn flour
- 1 egg yolk
- Vanilla essence
For the nuts frosting
- 100 g of wheat flour
- 15 g of oat flakes
- 60 g of sugar
- 65 g of very cold butter cut into pieces
- 15 g of chopped hazelnut
- 15 g of chopped almonds
Also
- 3 red apples
- 30 g of brown sugar
Step by step elaboration
- Mix the flour and salt in a deep bowl and add the butter. With the tips of your fingers work the butter, rubbing and mixing it with the rest of the ingredients.
- Add the water and mix, without kneading in excess, until homogenizing. Wrap in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for 60 minutes.
- Let’s prepare, in the meantime, the pastry cream and the frosting.
- For the pastry cream. In a small pan, heat the milk and the cinnamon stick. Remove from the heat before boiling. In a deep bowl mix egg yolk, sugar and fine corn flour. Add half of the milk and stir vigorously with some rods until incorporated. Return to the small pan and heat again to soft heat, stirring without stopping, during 5 minutes. Remove and let cool.
- For the frosting. Mix the flour, sugar and oatmeal. Add the butter in dices and work with your fingertips to avoid overheating, rubbing and mixing until you get ‘crumbs’. Add the chopped hazelnut and almonds. Save for later.
- Spread the pasta with a rolling pin until it is thin, sprinkling the work surface with flour so that it does not stick. Cover with it the base of a mold suitable for the oven and cut the excess.
- Cover the base with the tempered custard.
- Peel the apples, remove the seeds and cut them into cubes or slices. Place them along the surface of the mold, on top of the pastry cream. Sprinkle with brown sugar.
- Spread the cover over the entire surface and bake in the oven, preheated to 180ºC, for 30 minutes or until the surface is browned.
- Serve hot or tempered.
Harmonies in sweetness, kindness and a point of elegance, this is our proposal that combines the festive and the familiar. To that end we propose a sweet cava, a marvel that brings fresh and citrus sweetness together with ripe fruits with a point of warmth. This is the Cava Nèctar Blanc de Juvé & Camps.
At his side, an international travel companion who stands out for its elegance and finesse: the Acqua Panna. A perfect union to savor a bite that combines sweet and acid flavors brilliantly, such as a red apple crumble or dried fruits crumble.
Nature at the table, so we could qualify this dessert as tasty and at the same time fun, ideal for these days of many agapes that with the company of water and cava create a perfect trilogy.
Tips
- The dough can be purchased in most supermarkets. It is a good option for when we have no time to prepare it at home.
- To save time in the preparation of the pastry cream, we can use the microwave and cook all the ingredients well beaten for 5 minutes, and then stirring the mixture a couple of times to homogenize.
- Hazelnuts and almonds can be replaced by other nuts or even removed from the frosting if you are allergic to nuts.
Don’t miss this Marinated Salmon, here you can find the step by step recipe!