an understated kind of greatness

So it seemed that a little more than a month ago, I had promised that my first bake as an official missus would be a great one. It also appeared that I had somehow foreseen that the post-hiatus entries would possibly be non-baking related. Oh, how my heart is ridden with guilt as of now. Not that this bake isn’t great, mind you. Just that it’s not exactly mind-blasting (brownie points for those who caught the reference), and I shudder to hear sneering thoughts to the tune of i-can-do-that-with-my-eyes-closed, hence the disclaimer. And as for the highly curious who may not have been privy to my whereabouts the past month, feel free to drop by my photoblog for some shots.

Now on to the bake. Besides chocolate and cinnamon, another word that would almost always jump off any recipe page and grab me by my oven mitts would be ‘crumble’. Call it an obsession of sorts, but I’ve since perfected the art of adding a crumble to anything I could possibly lay my buttery fingers on. Add a crumble to anything, and you’ll have a dessert most people would find almost impossible to resist throwing their table manners off their Victorian-laced tablecloth for. And that to me spells the easiest and most fuss-free dessert not only suitable for any season (but fall, oh fall), the best part is its versatility to adapt to your primary choice of flavour, or in my case, whatever almost-gone-bad fruit I have. And while apple crumbles may not be ground-breaking, there is something much too comforting in having everyone just scoop out their own portions off the pan with their spoons. And in that split moment when you could actually taste the tang of the lemon bringing out the perfect tartness of the apples, interspersed with the warmth of cinnamon in every bite, you will come to realise that it might just be the most understated perfect bake after all.

Apple Crumble

3-4 tart apples; peeled, cored and diced
2-3 tsp of lemon juice
1⁄2 cup brown sugar
1-2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup plain flour
100g cold butter; diced

1. Preheat oven to 190C.
2. In a bowl, prepare the apples and mix in the lemon juice.
3. In another bowl, prepare the crumble by mixing the brown sugar, ground cinnamon and flour. Rub in the cold diced butter into the flour-sugar mixture until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.
4. Mix in the diced apples into the crumb mixture to coat the apples with the crumbs, and scatter the batter into a 6-inch round pan.
5. Bake at 190C for 35 mins. Serve with vanilla ice-cream.

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