Apple & Blackberry Crumble

A bubbling, golden fruit crumble with a buttery oat topping. Best served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

By Cressio Rinaldi

A crumble is the easiest fruit dessert you can make. There is no pastry to roll, no pie crust to fit and almost no technique. You toss fruit with a little sugar and spice, rub butter into flour, oats and brown sugar for a crumbly topping, scatter it over the fruit and bake until golden.

Apples and blackberries are a great pair. Granny Smith apples are firm and tart, and they hold their shape in the heat. Blackberries burst and turn the juices a deep purple, with a rich, wild sweetness. A little cinnamon runs through both layers.

It serves six and takes about 50 minutes, most of which is baking. It is forgiving, so it is a good dessert to start with, and it is the best use of fruit that is going soft.

Read this first

1. Use cold butter for the topping. It makes the crumble crisp, not greasy.
2. Slice the apples thin and even, so they cook through.
3. Bake until the fruit is bubbling at the edges.

Prep time: 15 mins · Cook time: 35 mins · Serves 6

Ingredients

• 4 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced
• 2 cups Fresh blackberries
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 1 cup Plain flour
• 1/2 cup Rolled oats
• 1/2 cup Brown sugar
• 6 tbsp Cold butter, cubed
• 1 tsp Cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Toss apples and blackberries with sugar and half the cinnamon. Pour into a baking dish. Look for: Thin, even apple slices and purple-stained berries, coated in sugar and cinnamon.
2. Combine flour, oats, brown sugar, and remaining cinnamon. Rub in cold butter until crumbly. Look for: A rough, sandy mixture with pea-sized clumps of butter, and no dry flour.
3. Spread crumble topping evenly over fruit. Look for: A loose, even, uncompressed layer of crumble over the fruit.
4. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden and fruit is bubbling. Look for: A deep golden topping, with purple juice bubbling at the edges.
5. Cool slightly and serve warm with vanilla ice cream or custard. Look for: Fruit juices that have thickened slightly, and a crisp topping.

Nutrition

Amount per serving. Nutritional values are estimates calculated from the ingredients above and can vary.

• Calories: 380
• Fat: 13g
• Saturated Fat: 8g
• Carbohydrates: 62g
• Fiber: 7g
• Sugar: 36g
• Protein: 5g
• Sodium: 10mg
• Cholesterol: 30mg

Notes

• Storage: Keeps at room temperature, covered, for up to 2 days, or refrigerated for up to 5.
• Freezing: Freeze the baked crumble for up to 3 months, or freeze the unbaked topping separately and bake straight from frozen, adding a few extra minutes.
• Cold Butter: Keeping the butter cold until it goes into the oven is what gives the topping its crumbly, biscuit-like texture instead of a paste.

Cook It With Me

Prepare the fruit

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Peel, core and slice the 4 Granny Smith apples into slices about 1/4 inch thick. In a large bowl, toss them with the 2 cups of blackberries, the 1/4 cup of sugar and half of the cinnamon. Pour into a baking dish.

Make the crumble

In a bowl, combine the 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of oats, 1/2 cup of brown sugar and the remaining cinnamon. Add the 6 tablespoons of cold, cubed butter and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs, with some pea-sized lumps.

Top

Scatter the crumble evenly over the fruit, covering it from edge to edge, without pressing it down.

Bake

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the topping is golden and the fruit is bubbling up around the edges.

Rest and serve

Let it cool for 10 minutes, so the juices thicken slightly. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or custard.

The Ingredients, One by One

Granny Smith apples

They are tart, firm and don’t turn to mush. A mix of tart and sweet apples, such as Granny Smith and Honeycrisp, also works.

Fresh blackberries

Two cups. Frozen berries work too. Don’t thaw them, and add a minute or two to the baking time.

Sugar and cinnamon

A quarter cup of sugar sweetens the fruit. Cinnamon adds warmth, and half goes in the fruit, half in the crumble.

Plain flour and rolled oats

The flour gives structure and the oats give a crunchy, nutty texture.

Brown sugar

It gives the topping a caramel flavor and helps it crisp.

Cold butter

Six tablespoons, cubed. It must stay cold, so it melts in the oven and makes the crumble crisp.

The Technique Behind It

Why cold butter

Cold butter stays in small pieces until it hits the oven. There, it melts and steams, creating a crisp, crumbly texture. Warm butter makes a greasy, dense topping.

Why not press the crumble down

Pressing makes a solid lid. A loose topping stays crisp and lets steam escape.

Why rest before serving

Fruit juices thicken as they cool slightly. Serving straight from the oven gives a runny dessert.

Mistakes That Cost You the Dish

• Warm butter The topping is greasy.
• Pressing the topping It turns hard and dense.
• Thick apple slices They stay hard.
• Skipping the rest The filling is too runny.
• Underbaking The topping is pale and the fruit is firm.

Fix It: If This Happens, Do This

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
Topping is soggy	Warm butter or too much juice	Bake longer, and use colder butter.
Filling is runny	Juicy berries	Toss the fruit with a tablespoon of cornstarch.
Apples are hard	Slices too thick	Slice thinner, or bake longer, covered.
Topping is too dry	Not enough butter	Add a tablespoon of melted butter.
Topping is too dark	Oven too hot	Tent with foil.

What Each Ingredient Does (and What You Can Swap)

Ingredient	Its job	Swap, and what changes
Granny Smith apples	Tart, firm fruit	Pears or rhubarb work.
Blackberries	Color and juice	Raspberries or blueberries work.
Plain flour	Structure	Gluten-free blend works.
Rolled oats	Crunch	Chopped nuts work.
Cold butter	Richness	Coconut oil works.

Plan Ahead

• Make ahead: Assemble up to a day ahead, and bake when needed.
• Fridge: Up to 4 days.
• Reheat: In a 350 F oven for 15 minutes.
• Freezer: Freeze unbaked for up to 3 months.

What to Serve With It

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream, custard or a spoonful of cream. A sprinkle of flaky salt on top sharpens the flavor.

Questions People Ask

About the Author

Cressio Rinaldi

Cressio Rinaldi is the recipe developer behind Cressio Recipes. He cooks, tests, and writes every recipe on the site himself — refining each one until it's simple enough for a weeknight and good enough to make again. He's not a trained chef, just someone who cooks constantly and pays close attention to what actually makes a recipe work.