Toffee Apple Crumble

The last of the Emneth Earlies are coming to an end and I fancied making a crumble, but adding caramel to the apples I thought might be a good idea, I was right, this variation on the old standard apple crumble is definitely worth making.

You will need:

For the Apple filling:
7 large apples, roughly 1200g equivalent
100g of sugar
750ml of apple liquor, apple juice is fine if this is not available
2 tablespoons of double cream, optional
1/2 teaspoon of salt.

For the crumble:
150g of plain flour
50g of rolled oats
125g of unsalted butter
40g of sugar
a few slivered almonds to sprinkle on top.

Begin preparing the apples, peel, core and cut into small pieces. Then make the caramel; I find the easiest way to do this is to place the sugar in a heavy based pan on a low heat and with the sugar spread out over the bottom of the pan, heat until it begins to melt. The important thing is to NEVER stir the sugar, simply shake the pan and tilt it slightly so that all the sugar becomes melted. Caramel will turn from a a clear colourless liquid to a golden brown, then dark brown in a matter of moments, so it's essential that you watch while this process is going on, switch the heat off as soon as the colour begins to deepen, it is better to have a slightly pale caramel than a bitter dark one. As soon as you are happy with the colour, add the apples, they will spit and spatter due to the high heat of the caramel, add the liquor of juice and place the pan back on the heat. At this point you can begin to stir the apples gently to dissolve the caramel. Add the salt and continue to cook on a low heat to reduce the liquid and slightly cook the apples. This is the time to adjust the flavour of what has become a sauce with the addition of a little more sugar and a spoonful or two of double cream if you like a creamy toffee sauce. Transfer the apples in their sauce to an oven proof dish.

Make the crumble; weigh out the ingredients and mix in a food processor or by hand to form a breadcrumb consistency. Spread the crumble mixture onto the cooled apples, topping with a sprinkling of slivered almonds. Bake at 180C for 35 t 40 minutes until the top is golden and the sauce shows signs of emerging at the sides.

 

 

Notes: It's important to use apples that hold their shape for making this dish, rather than cooking apples which will simply form a mush.