Ad Break Apple & Rhubarb Crumble Recipe

Last night while watching MasterChef, I spied an apple pie and was hit with a craving for apple crumble.  I talked Mum into helping me make one, since she makes the best crumble in town, plus I'm lazy.

This apple crumble is the best thing a person can make or eat.  It's amazingly delicious; the juxtaposition of textures (soft filling, crunchy topping) and flavours (tart fruit, sweet crumble) is perfect.  It's very quick and easy and you don't need to stand over it, so you can make during the ad breaks of your favourite show.  It probably keeps well, though I've never had the self control to test that out.  It's a warm and hearty dessert, but it also makes a lovely breakfast (fruit = nutritious start to the day).  And since it's not proper baking, you don't need to worry too much about precise quantities so you can experiment.

Anyway, here is how you do it.

1. Make your crumble topping.  You need plain flour, caster sugar and butter; you can just guess the quantities but your ratio of flour:sugar:butter should be 2:1:1.  Mix it all together with your fingers or food processor (careful if you use a processor, you don't want to make it too fine). 

Lots of people add things like oats, almond or coconuts* to their crumble but these people need professional help.  Plain crumble topping is the nicest thing in the world. 

2. Into a square Pyrex dish or similar, empty a 500g tin of apples.  I used Woolworths Select, which is the best in my experience, but any will do.

Allegedly you can also peel, core, slice and cook your own apples.  Why would you?  It tastes awesome like this and you'll save like 10 hours.

3. Add another kind of fruit if you feel like it.  In a true TV chef moment, I had some "here's one I prepared earlier" stewed rhubarb in the freezer, which I got v. cheap at the greengrocer (Best Fresh, hi Lara!) one day.  Ordinarily I would use frozen raspberries, as we always have these in the freezer.  If anyone knows where I can buy frozen rhubarb, leave me a comment and I'll give you a crumble for yourself.  You could use pears in lieu of apples, if you hate yourself.

You don't need any sugar!

4. Put it in a 200 degree celsius oven and cook it until the top is golden.

5. BONUS ROUND! While it cooks, make some custard. This is super easy.  Just take some custard powder (Bird's is the best but Foster Clark's is what I used this time) and 2 cups of milk and follow the directions on the packet.  Don't do it in the microwave though; it only takes 5 minutes in the saucepan anyway, and it's quite fun.

And tada, you have a super delicious dessert made from pantry staples and you didn't even miss the Immunity Challenge.

It looks more glamourous when you don't pour thirty litres of custard over it, but then what would be the point?

Okay, now off you go to make a crumble.

*Naturally I meant to say shredded coconut, not whole coconuts!  But I couldn't bring myself to correct it after I realised my mistake.