Nigella Lawson has shared her luxurious apple crumble recipe that is always going to go down a treat – and said one component is ‘obligatory’ rather than optional
As the colder months arrive, sometimes there’s nothing nicer than indulging in a hearty warm dessert – and Nigella Lawson has shared her ultimate ‘crumble of dreams’.
To help warm us up, and enjoy a little sweet treat after dinner, why not try out Nigella’s favourite go-to dessert to impress your diners – but she says there is one ‘obligatory’ item with it that’s “not optional”.
“This is nothing short of alchemy: you take the vilest, crunchiest supermarket strawberries, top them with an almondy, buttery rubble, bake and turn them on a cold day into the taste of English summer,” the chef told BBC, and added: “Naturally, serve with lashings of cream: I regard this is as obligatory, not optional.”
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Nigella said the crumble can also be assembled a day ahead, for those planning in advance, just cover with cling film and store in the fridge until needed. She also said the unbaked crumble can be frozen, wrapped in a double layer of cling film and aluminium foil, for up to 3 months. Just simply defrost for 24 hours in the fridge.
So to make Nigella’s dreamy dish, the recipe, as shared by BBC is below:
Ingredients
For the filling
- 500g/1lb 2oz strawberries, hulled
- 50g/2oz caster sugar
- 25g/1oz ground almonds
- 4 tsp vanilla extract
For the topping
- 110g/4oz plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 75g/3oz cold butter, diced
- 100g/3½oz flaked almonds
- 75g/3oz demerara sugar
- double cream, to serve
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Put the hulled strawberries into your pie dish (I use a round one) and sprinkle over the sugar, almonds and vanilla extract. Give the dish a good shake or two to mix the ingredients.
- Now for the crumble topping: put the flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl and rub in the cold, diced butter between thumb and fingers (or in a freestanding mixer or food processor). When you’ve finished, it should resemble rough, pale oatmeal.
- Stir in the flaked almonds and demerara sugar with a fork.
- Tip the topping over the strawberry filling, covering the strawberries in an even layer and pressing the topping in a little at the edges of the dish.
- Set the dish on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 30 minutes, by which time the crumble topping will have darkened to a pale gold and some pink-red juices will be seeping and bubbling out at the edges.
- Leave to stand for 10 minutes before serving, and be sure to put a jug of chilled double cream on the table alongside.
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