Best Bakes

Mechan van der Westhuizen theflourqueennz@gmail.com

Caramelised apple peach crumble

A great dessert to enjoy with the whole whanau this mid-winter Christmas. Yields: 8

Crumble:

1 cup plain flour

1 cup rolled oats

2 tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground ginger

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

¾ cup soft brown sugar

150g butter (melted)

Filling:

4 big apples (peeled and diced)

1 can peach slices (drained)

¾ cup soft brown sugar

1tbsp molasses

60g butter

1 vanilla bean (or 1tsp vanilla bean paste)

1tbsp lemon juice

1tbsp corn starch

1tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 180° Celsius. Grease and line a baking (tart) dish – mine is 25cm. Prepare the crumb by mixing all the dry ingredients together. Melt the butter in the microwave, then add it to the dry ingredients. This will form a nice soft crumble. Scoop half of the mixture into the tart dish pressing down firmly to create a crust like based. Set it aside.

Now start making the filling. Blanch the apples in hot water. Put the sugar into a saucepan, and slowly melt it over medium heat. Before the sugar completely melts, add the molasses, butter and vanilla bean and give it a good swirl.

Add the drained apples and peaches and let the mixture simmer few a few minutes. Then add the lemon juice, corn starch, cinnamon, and salt. Mix well. Cook for about 5min then remove from the heat. Scrape the filling on top of the dry ingredients. Spread it out evenly. Sprinkle the rest of the crumb on top.

Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown in colour. Serve hot with custard, vanilla ice-cream, fresh cream or yoghurt.