Golden Crumble Mix 400g (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to crunchy crumble? ›

A pastry chef friend shared the technique. Instead of sprinkling the raw crumbs on top of the fruit, where they absorb the juices and turn a little mushy on their undersides, he spread them out in a pan and baked them separately, until crisp and cookielike.

Butter, which encourages both browning and crispness, is the magic ingredient in getting your topping just right, so follow the recipe instructions. But if you feel your topping is still too dry and crumbly, (even for a crumble) add a bit more melted butter, a tablespoon at a time.

NB: This recipe uses a ratio of 1 part sugar to 2 parts butter and 4 parts flour/oats. For a richer version use 1 part sugar to 2 parts butter and 3 parts flour/oats.

Use a shallowish dish if you've got a wet fruit mixture, otherwise the crumble will start to dissolve before it's baked.

Trick one: Cornflour.

This isn't totally traditional but using cornflour is a cheat's way of thickening up the fruit mixture sauce so that it doesn't become too watery. As well as this, it keeps your crumble topping crispy because the additional water that cooks out of the rhubarb can make it go soggy.

The crumble can be served piping hot, warm or cold. The best accompaniment for this ultimate apple crumble is vanilla ice cream or custard.

Bake the crumble.

Cover the pan with foil, and bake for 20 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for a further 25 to 30 minutes, until the crumble is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Leave to stand for 5-10 minutes, then serve warm with custard or ice cream.

Either the oven is not hot enough or you don't have enough fat and/or sugar in the topping. Browning is from caramelization of the sugar, not toasting the oats or flour.

Why is my crumble topping like dough? ›

Often this happens if the crumb topping is over-mixed or if the butter was much too hot. Over-mixing will leave you with a pasty, batter-like mixture rather than the crumbly topping you are aiming for. Using very hot butter can cause the sugars to melt, leaving you with a greasy and not crumbly mixture.

Flatten down with your hand to prevent too much crumble falling through. Put 175g plain flour and 110g golden caster sugar in a bowl with a good pinch of salt. Slice in 110g cold butter and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like moist breadcrumbs.

Cream the lard and sugar in a mixing bowl until smooth. Add the flour, rolled oats, and salt, and mix until it has come together into a sand-like consistency with lots of chunks. Use your hands to form some larger crumb clumps, then sprinkle the topping evenly over the filling.

Make the crumble topping and store in a sealed plastic bag in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Keep for later? Store the uncooked crumble in a covered dish and keep in the fridge for up to 24 hours before cooking or freeze for up to three months.

All you need to make a crumble topping is flour, sugar and butter. Rub cold cubes of butter into the flour using your finger tips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. You can stir ingredients such as oats and flaked almonds into the mixture to add some texture, if you like.

If your crumb topping isn't crumbly you need to add a little more butter. Chances are you mis-measured the flour, but it is an easy fix. Start with 1 tablespoon of melted butter and mix that in, adding more if necessary. Don't add too much butter, though, as it will melt as it's baked.

Making Crumble Topping

Crumb topping can be as simple as flour and sugar thickened with butter, but two small upgrades make for a tastier crumble topping. First, adding a teaspoon of baking powder to the flour mixture makes the crumble topping more tender.

Most crisps and crumbles (two names for essentially the same thing) are squishy and jammy, with a luscious fruity cushion beneath a shaggy brown-sugar blanket that might contain a few nuts, with or without oats, as a vague attempt at crunch.

Crisps are essentially crumbles with the addition of oats and optional nuts, which causes the topping to “crisp” in the oven. Due to the higher ratio of oats to flour, crisps are often enjoyed for breakfast and are just as tasty eaten cold from the fridge as they are warmed up in the oven.