Apple crumble

For me, apple crumble speaks loud and clear of crisp autumn days, red leaves rustling on the ground, and the comfort of a warm home. I made one yesterday and it perfectly evoked all that I love about autumn.

Apple crumble - serves 8-10
175g butter
200g plain flour
100g demerara (or golden caster) sugar
200g oats
12 small or 8 medium eating apples
75g sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
Handful flaked almonds

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Cube the butter into small pieces. 
3. Tip the butter, flour, and demerara sugar into a food processor. Pulse until well mixed into a breadcrumb texture. Add the oats and mix together.
4. Peel, core, and chop the apples. (To do this, I peel them fully, then slice off each side in turn. No messing around with corers for me!)
5. Place the apples in a large baking dish and sprinkle over the sugar and the cinnamon. Use your hands to make sure it is well mixed.
6. Spread the crumble topping over the apples right to the edges. Scatter flaked almonds over the top.
7. Bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes, until the topping is golden.
8. Serve with cream, crème fraiche, or (my favourite) custard.

I adapted this recipe from one found online. I use more oats because, well, I like an oaty topping. This recipe makes quite a large quantity of topping. Any that is left over can be frozen in a box or bag and used for future crumbles. I used 5 small eating apples and about two-fifths of the topping, and my crumble was big enough to feed 4-5 people. You can't really go wrong: if you have too many apples, just make the apple layer thicker; if too much topping, just freeze the remainder.