Apple Crumble

A healthy, high fibre winter warmer, this fruit crumble is one of our favourite winter comfort foods. We have developed a bit of a habit of eating leftovers cold or warm for breakfast! I love to use fuji apples in this recipe as they give the dish a beautiful natural sweetness, meaning you don’t have to add sugar when cooking the fruit.

serves 6
what you need
1 kg apples (I leave the skin on, but you can peel if you like)
1 cinnamon stick
juice of 1 lemon
natural yoghurt (european or greek style) or pure cream, to serve
crumble topping:
1 cup (85g) rolled oats
½ cup (45g) desiccated coconut
1/4 cup (25g) wheatgerm
1/4 cup (25g) LSA mix (see note)
1/4 cup (45g) rapadura sugar (or brown sugar)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp chia seed
100g butter, softened to room temperature, chopped

what you do
1. Cut the apples into quarters, remove the cores and then slice each quarter into even sized chunks. Place apples and cinnamon stick into a large saucepan. Pour the lemon juice over, than add enough water to cover (about 4 cups).
2. Cover and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, uncover and simmer for 20 minutes, until the fruit is tender. Turn off the heat, and cool in the cooking liquid (this helps to retain all the goodness and natural sugars, keeping the sweetness of the fruit without adding extra sugar).
3. Preheat the oven to 160ºC (140ºC fan forced).To make the crumble topping, combine all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add the butter and use your fingertips to rub in until evenly combined.
4. Place the fruit (with some of the cooking juices) into a 6 cup capacity ovenproof dish, or 6 one cup capacity individual ramekins
Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the fruit. Bake for 30-40 minutes or 20-30 minutes for individual ramekins, until golden brown on top. Keep an eye on them as they cook to make sure they don’t become too brown on top. Serve with a dollop of natural yoghurt or pure cream.
Note: LSA is a combination of ground linseed, sunflower kernels and almond meal. It is available from health food shops and most supermarkets. It should be stored in the fridge once opened.

GF option: Use gluten-free oats

cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of cinnamon trees. It can be used in both sweet and savoury recipes and comes in two forms; cinnamon bark which is known as a cinnamon stick or quill, and as a ground spice. Cinnamon is a great source of manganese, fibre, iron and calcium. When added to food, it inhibits bacterial growth and food spoilage, making it a natural food preservative.

© Jane Grover - NAKED FOOD - the way food was meant to be