Undressed Apple Crumble in a Jar

On Friday night there is to be a birthday dinner for the birthday siblings. In New Zealand.   In the summer. Too far for Mama to catch a cab from the U.S. prairies.  Sadly.  Senior Son has been working  on creating a Mama Meal from The Kitchen’s Garden Pages.  Then it was discovered, with eyes rolling in horror, that I have not posted the Apple Crumble and an emergency call was put through.

So very quickly yesterday afternoon, I gathered the last of the apples, made the crumble,  and wrote  down the recipe. This is harder to do than you think, when you have made the crumble your entire life by just heaving it all together and stirring. Now if you are invited to the dinner on Friday  – close your eyes.

The  Crumble

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 big tablespoon bran
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 4 oz cold butter
• zest of half a lemon

Grate the very cold butter into the dry ingredients, (grate and stir, grate and stir, etc) zest the lemon in and mix with your fingers until it is crumbly. It needs to look like chunky breadcrumbs.

Grease your widemouthed jars  (this will work in a baking dish just as well).  Pack with sliced Granny Smith Apples (or any other tart apples) until the jars are about two thirds full.  Do not add sugar to your apples, leave the tart taste alone. Top with about 1/2 inch of the crumble. Sit your jars on a baking sheet in the oven for 45 minutes at 350F..  (about 160C I think.)  Be careful when you take them out of the oven. They are hot and awkward.  Don’t serve too hot. 

I made these as individual servings in wide-mouthed Bell  canning jars (Agee bottling jars in NZ) . The pictures are of UnDressed Only-Just-Cooked Apple Crumble as I did not want to lose the light for a photo.  These can be made ahead of time, (to the above stage)  then warmed on low.  Just before serving, create layers of colour in the jar.  Maybe you could add a thin layer of  whole blueberries or raspberries, then a small ball of icecream and a wee curl of lemon.  Your sister will help with this.  Jab a shiny spoon into the dessert and serve quickly so that the crumble stays crispy.

I hope you can find the pint sized wide mouthed jars! If not you can make these in individual ramekins.

If you have a few desserts left over, screw the lids onto the jars,  pop in the fridge and take them for a pernick-nick  (home talk for picnic) down at the beach on the weekend.  Apple crumble is just as good cold!

Can you see Mary’s Cat lurking in the back of this shot? He is thrilled that I am taking photographs of food outside again!

Today we are forecast to reach 50F. All the baby plants have been watered gently with the hand rose in the shower, and are waiting to go outside as soon as it hits 40F. Hopefully we do not get too much wind. The big doors have been opened in the chook house, as well as the barn, so everyone is feeling springy and the chooks are laying like mad with all that extra light!  Maybe I should make a pavlova and have a birthday celebration too!

Dawn has come. Good morning!

celi

c