Apple and strawberry crumble is an easy dessert that's loaded with crisp sweet apples and juicy fresh strawberries tossed with brown sugar and baked with a buttery oat topping making this the perfect dessert.
Fruit crumble is one of the best and easiest desserts to make with summer and winter fruit. Here are some other crumble recipes you definitely need to try- strawberry rhubarb crumble, ginger rhubarb crumble, and quick and easy fruit crumble.
Apple and strawberry crumble is so easy to bake, even for the most inexperienced bakers. But, there are a couple of tips and tricks I've learned over my years as a professional chef, so I'm sharing them in the tips and tricks below.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Uses sweet fresh fruit to make the most of summer.
- Amazing for feeding a crowd.
- Only takes 10 minutes to make and about 30 minutes to bake.
- Perfect served with vanilla ice cream or custard.
Ingredients needed
- apples- you can use any type of apple that you love.
- strawberries
- brown sugar
- ground and flaked almonds
- butter
- oats- not quick cooking
See the recipe card for quantities.
Step By Step Instructions
1 & 2
- Chop the apples and cut the strawberries in half or in quarters, depending on the size. Toss them with the sugar and a little bit of flour.
- Place the fruit into an oven-proof dish. Set aside while you make the oat crumble topping.
3 & 4
- Place the crumble ingredients into a mixing bowl. Use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour and oats. *I've added ground almonds into the mixture because almonds, apples, and strawberries are a match made in heaven.
- Top the fruit with the crumble topping and scatter with flaked almonds.
*If you have any kind of nut allergy skip the almonds and replace the ground almonds with flour.
Hint: For gluten-free crumble topping just use gluten-free flour and oats.
Recipe: FAQ
Yes. Peeling the apple will ensure that you have a great texture and that the apples soften while they bake.
When you're in a pinch or it's the middle of winter, you absolutely can use frozen strawberries. Just be sure that you don't thaw the strawberries before baking, otherwise you end up with an overly juicy crumble which can cause a soggy topping.
Why is my crumble topping not crispy?
To make a really great and crunchy crumble topping you need a few key elements.
- The butter to flour/oat ratio needs to be correct. If you don't have enough butter your crumble topping will be dry. Too much butter and you end up with a soggy greasy mess.
- A preheated oven at a moderate temperature. If the oven is too hot the crumble topping will brown before the fruit has had a chance to soften and bake. And preheating the oven ensures that the crumble starts to bake right away.
- If your oven does run a little hot, then you can cover the crumble topping with some foil so it doesn't over bake.
Substitutions & Variations
- Apples - you can use any type of apple in this crumble recipe. I've chosen a dessert apple because they're sweeter and compliment the strawberries really well.
- Strawberries - the best strawberries for this crumble are ones that are slightly bruised. They tend to be the juiciest.
- Almonds - pecans work really well in this recipe, too. They bring a rich toffee flavour to the topping. You can also skip the nuts altogether if you prefer.
- Oats - be sure to use rolled oats rather than quick cooking. The rolled oats are flatter and offer a better texture. Quick cooking oats will give the topping a dusty texture.
Equipment
Storage & Make ahead
- Baked crumble can keep really well in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- If you plan to make this crumble ahead of time you can cut the fruit and make the crumble mixture, but store them in the fridge separately for up to 3 days. Storing unbaked fruit crumble in the fridge will result in the topping going gummy and not going crisp while baking.
- Baked crumble can be frozen in order to be reheated later. Reheat from frozen in a low-temperature oven.
Top tips
- You can use a food processor to make the crumble topping. I just used my fingers for this recipe and the results are equally amazing.
- Make some extra crumble topping and store it in the freezer for later.
- If using frozen strawberries don't thaw them before baking.
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Easy Old Fashioned Apple and Strawberry Crumble
Ingredients
- 400 g fresh strawberries, tops cut off
- 4 apples, peeled and chopped
- 30 g Flour
- 75 g Caster sugar
- 1 lemon, juice only
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
For the crumble topping
- 225 g Butter
- 100 g Brown sugar
- 125 g Rolled oats
- 75 g Ground almonds
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 175 g Plain flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160ºC fan or 180ºC conventional (350F)
- Wash and trim the strawberries and peel and chop the apples. Add the fruit to the bowl along with the lemon juice, plain flour, and sugar. Toss everything well.
- Place the fruit in an oven-safe baking dish or a cast-iron skillet.
- To make the crumble topping place all the ingredients in the bowl and rub the flour into the butter until the mixture looks rough with pea-sized bits. Or use a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles chunky breadcrumbs. Place the mixture on top of the fruit and bake in the preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes until the fruit is soft and bubbling up around the sides of the dish.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for about 5 minutes before dishing into bowls and topping with scoops of vanilla ice cream.
Notes
- It’s really important to use old-fashioned rolled oats here, rather than quick cooking. Old-fashioned oats are the whole oat and have a great texture. Quick-cooking oats result in a more powdery crumble topping.
- Make ahead and freeze- Baked crumble freezes really well for up to 3 months and is great in the fridge for 3 days. I don’t recommend assembling the crumble and storing it in the fridge before baking. The topping will go quite soggy and not crisp up when it’s baked. But you can store unbaked crumble in the freezer for up to 3 months. Simply defrost for a few hours on the worktop and bake as instructed.
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