Easy Apple Crumble with Custard and Blueberry Compote

Ok, this is insane.

The apple crumble that I baked at 1pm Saturday ? It is STILL INCREDIBLY CRUNCHY now at 1am Sunday. I’ll admit it. I kinda knew I would foil the “diet” plan when I decided to bake this today. But I convinced myself with, “怎样？吃水果是没有错的嘛，对吗？” (“What? There’s nothing wrong in eating fruits right?”) And thankfully so, because I just made the best dessert I have ever made, and I have made quite a few desserts.

It all started one fateful day when I inherited lots and lots of apples. I’m not quite the apple-in-its-purest-form fan, but do I love apple pie. I don’t like making pie crusts though, and so I thought, “Apple Crumble” will be it. How difficult can it be? Just cook some apples and raisins in sugar and cinnamon, then top it with a buttery crumble before baking it til the topping is cooked. And I was right! How easy this really is!

The next thing was to think of what else to make to go along with the crumble. I mean, I couldn’t possibly just make the crumble and photograph it naked, could I? I wouldn’t do it justice. And what always, always goes with apple crumble? Custard, that’s what! I also decided to use up the blueberries in my fridge, all 2 and a half boxes of it, to make a blueberry compote to go along with my “healthy” dessert. Might as well. More fruits, healthier right?

I used quite a lot of large apples for this recipe. A total of 8 200g-220g apples, more than 1.5kg. Yes, there are 8 large apples in the baking dish above. Sounds like a lot, isn’t really too much. This makes about 6 generous servings, and trust me, you’d rather make more than less because NO ONE will stop at one serving.

I cooked the apples til just slightly soft instead of baking them directly in the oven. This way, I can be sure the filling’s gonna be cooked just right and not too hard. I didn’t want my crumble to brown (or worse, burn) before the apples were even soft. I also used brown sugar for better flavour and have you heard? The combination of “Apples + brown sugar + cinnamon” is the only scenario where 3’s not a crowd but a match made in Heaven.

If there’s ONE baking recipe you wanna try from budgetpantry, it’s gotta be THIS! Can you believe it? Still crunchy after 15 hours? These apples died a worthy death. And yes, you can airfry if you want a smaller portion (are you serious?). Just use a smaller baking dish that will fit.