Butterless Apple Crumble

We were very honored to have a celebrity at the launchpad last evening. Upon arriving for dinner, she and her husband had stopped to secure pie for dinner. So, it was Chicken Delicious for dinner and [keep your fork, there's] pie for dessert. It's possible that SoBA had four pieces of pie. (I shudder at the thought of my grocery bill when he hits the teenage years). On a related note, we will have dinner guests tomorrow night - wonderful friends who are here visiting DC from the retirement locale of New Mexico. I think slow cooker roast beef is on the menu for then.

I came across this recipe a while back and thought, really? no butter in the crumble? what's the point. But the fine folk over at Chocolate and Zucchini seem to know what they are talking about. I don't know if Kim [or his wife Maggie, for that matter, who makes a fabulous crumble - one I have only read about - but it reads as very delicious] would agree. Enjoy this variation!

Butterless Apple Crumble

• 100 grams (3.5 ounces, about 3/4 cup) flour (I use spelt flour)
• 100 grams (1 cup) rolled grains of your choice (oat, spelt, wheat, rye, quinoa, rice, barley... or a mix thereof)
• 50 grams (1/4 cup) rapadura sugar
• 50 grams (1/4 cup) unrefined blond cane sugar (you can use the combination of unrefined sugars that you prefer, or just one)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon mango powder (at Indian markets ; substitute the spice of your choice)
• 80 ml (1/3 cup) oil (I use a bottled blend of four organic oils)
• 1.5 kilos organic apples (3 1/3 pounds, about 8 medium), preferably a mix of varieties, some that keep their shape when cooked, some that don't
  

Serves 8.

Make the crumble topping up to a day in advance: in a medium mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients from flour to oil, and stir well with a fork to combine, making sure all of the dry ingredients are moistened by the oil. If making in advance, transfer to an airtight container and keep in the fridge.

On the day of serving, preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F). Peel the apples in alternating vertical stripes so that you retain some, but not all of the peel. Quarter and core the apples, then cut into smallish chunks.

Arrange the apple chunks over the bottom of a baking dish (the one I generally use is a 25-cm or 10" square) and sprinkle evenly with the topping.

Insert in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes, until the apples are tender and the topping golden brown, checking regularly to make sure it doesn't darken too much (if it does, cover loosely with a piece of parchment paper).

Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. You can bake the crumble a few hours in advance, and reheat slightly before serving: if the oven was in use for the main course, I'll just put the crumble in the cooling oven while we eat. The leftovers are fantastic straight out of the fridge the next day.