Apple & Oat Crumble

📝 Ingredients

• 4 cooking apples (about 720 g, such as Golden Delicious or Boskoop)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 80 g rolled oats
• 50 g plain wheat flour
• 40 g ground almonds
• 40 g light brown sugar
• 50 g very cold unsalted butter, diced
• 1 pinch of salt
• 200 g 3% fat fromage frais, to serve

🍴 Utensils

• Baking dish of about 20 × 25 cm
• Mixing bowl
• Peeler
• Knife and cutting board
• Oven

📖 Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Peel the apples with a peeler, quarter them, remove the core and pips, then cut each quarter into roughly 2 cm dice so they cook evenly.
2. Put the diced apple in the baking dish, drizzle with lemon juice to stop it browning and sprinkle with cinnamon. Toss with your hands to coat well, then spread out in an even layer.
3. In the mixing bowl, combine the oats, flour, ground almonds, brown sugar and salt. Add the diced butter: take it out of the fridge at the last minute so the mixture turns nicely crumbly.
4. Quickly rub the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingertips until you get pea-sized crumbs. Don't knead or try to form a ball, or the crumble will be dense instead of crunchy.
5. Scatter the crumble mixture over the apples without pressing it down, right into the corners of the dish. An airy layer lets the steam from the fruit escape and browns much better.
6. Bake on the middle shelf for 30 to 35 minutes. The crumble is ready when the top is nicely golden and the apple juices are bubbling at the edges. If it browns too quickly, cover with a sheet of foil.
7. Leave to cool for 10 minutes out of the oven so the juices thicken slightly. Serve in 4 portions, each topped with 50 g well-chilled fromage frais.