The Best Homemade Crumble Topping (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to good crumble? ›

As its name suggests, crumb topping is a dessert topping. It's a simple mixture of butter, sugar, and flour, and is typically used to top pies or muffins prior to baking for a crunchy, sweet contrast.

This can't be easier for perfect results every time. If you are wondering what the difference is between crumb topping and streusel, not much is the answer. Both are crumb toppings containing the same ingredients but streusel often has more sugar, cinnamon, nuts and or oats included.

Too much butter and your topping will become a greasy blob or disappointingly soggy. Some recipes will ask you to cut in cold butter along with your dry ingredients, resulting in pea-size pieces that are sprinkled across the hot fruit filling.

A crisp contains oats in the topping, while a crumble does not. Baking powder can also be added to a crumble topping (like it is here) to ensure it's extra light and tender.

Double-baking the crumb topping keeps it wonderfully crisp over its jammy fruit filling.

Like an apple crisp, an apple crumble is a baked fruit dessert with a layer of topping. But unlike the crisp, the crumble topping rarely includes oats or nuts. Instead, a crumble's topping is more like streusel, made with flour, sugar and butter.

When adding to cakes, be sure to add it to thick, dense batters. Thin, liquidy batters will cause the crumble topping to sink instead of staying on top of the cake.

Crumble topping is a combination of only 3 simple ingredients: butter, flour, and sugar. It adds the perfect sweetness and crunch to any muffin, quick bread, or pie!

A crisp is extremely similar to a crumble in that it is a baked dessert made with fresh fruit and a crumbly streusel-esque topping. Originally, the difference between a crumble and a crisp, however, was an ingredient used in the topping: crisps would contain oats and crumbles would not.

What can I substitute for butter in crumb topping? ›

Absolutely! As for the reverse, you probably don't want to use bread flour in place of AP for cookies, cakes, and tender pastries. But, if you've run out of AP and need just a few tablespoons of flour to make a roux, a crumble topping, or to butter and flour a cake pan, bread flour will work just fine.

The crumble topping should be stored in a freezer-proof airtight container or tightly sealed in a freezer bag. For the best results the topping should be used within 3 months of freezing as beyond that ice crystals can build up in the mixture, which can make it slightly less crisp on baking.

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.

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.

Tips For Making a Classic Fruit Crumble

Use cold butter and work it into the flour mixture for a pastry-like topping. The top should be brown and the filling should be bubbling. In order to thicken properly, the cornstarch in the filling must boil.

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.

Baked goods seem to crumble easily, but other things tend to crumble too: old houses, over time; sand castles; fragile ruins; and art objects made from clay. Anything that falls apart, especially into small bits, can be said to crumble.