Apple and Cranberry Crumble

There's only one reason to be writing about an ordinary, no-frills apple crumble - and that's to boast that I grew the apples myself!! The apples - a variety called Broadholm Beauty - are what is called dual-purpose; just sweet enough to be an eating apple but good for cooking too. We only planted the tree last year, along with two eating apple varieties, so the low yield we got this year from all three trees wasn't unexpected - all three apples from the tree went into the crumble.

I tried a slice while preparing the fruit and it was just edible raw, but still very sharp. I added a reduced amount of sugar to the slices in the baking dish, compared to what I would have added to Bramley apples.

I really wanted to test the flavour of the apples, as I was using all the crop, so only added a half teaspoon of cinnamon to my usual crumble mix, and 50g dried cranberries to the fruit. The mix I use for 4 portions is 80g each flour, rolled oats, sugar and butter, and I rub the butter into all the dried ingredients mixed together - this gives a coarser texture to the crumble mix which I prefer. Using some demerara sugar adds to the texture too - I only had about 25g left in the pack.

The apples seemed sweeter after cooking than when raw - I could have used less sugar - but they had a lovely flavour. They keep their shape when cooked and don't make much juice, so I must remember to add a little water when using them next year.