Baked Apple Crumble for One
Tender baked apple under a buttery, golden crumb topping. A warm single-serving dessert with caramel-toned edges and no stovetop needed.
- Total
- 58 min
- Prep 10 · Cook 38 · Rest 10
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Dicing · Roasting
- Sweet
- Oven
Instructions
-
Heat the oven to 190°C. Peel and core the apple, then cut it into 2 cm chunks.
~8 min
Dicing Cut the apple into even 2 cm chunks so they cook at the same rate. A sharp knife and steady, uniform cuts prevent uneven pieces.
-
Put the apple chunks in a small baking dish. Sprinkle 10 g sugar and 15 ml water over them and toss to coat.
~2 min
Sugar and water create steam and a syrupy base, keeping the apple moist and preventing sticking.
-
In a mixing bowl, rub 30 g butter into 40 g flour with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse damp crumbs. Stir in the remaining 15 g sugar.
~4 min
Rubbing butter into flour coats the flour in fat, which limits gluten development and creates a crumbly, tender topping.
-
Scatter the crumb mixture evenly over the apples, covering the fruit in a single layer.
~2 min
-
Bake until the topping is golden brown and the apple is tender when pierced with a knife, 28 to 32 minutes.
~32 min
Baking at 190°C browns the topping through Maillard reactions while gently softening the apple without drying it out.
Roasting Bake until the topping is golden brown and the apple is tender when pierced. Watch for even browning; rotate the dish if your oven has hot spots.
-
Let the crumble stand for 10 minutes so the juices thicken before serving.
~10 min
Resting allows the released apple juices to thicken and reabsorb, so the crumble sets instead of running.