Whole Grain Apple Crumble

I feel as though it is time to come clean. I HATE FALL. There. I said it. As soon as fall arrives in Los Angeles the temperature soars to 100 degrees, the humidity plummets to 8%, and the grocery stores remove all their usual products and replace them with pumpkin-flavored nonsense. And by ‘pumpkin-flavored’, I don’t mean that the products have actual pumpkin in them. It just means that every single item in the store is filled with pumpkin spice and put in an orange box. There’s pumpkin coffee, tea, cookies, pizza, pop tarts, breakfast cereal, yogurt… you name it, they have shoved pumpkin spice in it. It’s only a matter of time before they produce pumpkin-flavored toilet roll.

Despite my hatred of fall, every year I try to recreate the memory of the damp and miserable wonderfully crisp, cool Autumns back home in Britain. One way I do that is by making fruit crumbles. So today, I bought some good old Granny Smith apples (that thankfully had not been adulterated with pumpkin spice), and baked this delicious apple crumble.

For the crumble topping, I tried out this recipe from Martha Stewart and it was incredibly delicious. The whole grain flour and oats add fiber to the dish, and I threw in some flax seed to add omega 3 fatty acids. The topping is crispy and sweet, and compliments the tartness of the Granny Smith apples perfectly. In fact, I think I would go so far as to say that this is the best crumble topping I have ever made.

So without the need for any further introduction, here is the recipe.

Whole Grain Apple Crumble
(Printable Recipe)

Filling

• 4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter

Topping

• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/8 cup ground flax seed
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/8 tsp coarse salt

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Mix together the apples, lemon juice, and white sugar.

3. Melt the butter in a large skillet and add the apples. Cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes, until the apples are slightly soft.

4. In a separate bowl, mix together the whole wheat flour, oats, coconut, flax seed, brown sugar, coconut oil, and salt until well combined.

5. Put the apples in a 9″ pie dish and top evenly with the crumble mixture.

6. Bake for about 35 minutes until the topping is golden.

7. Leave to cool for a few minutes before eating.