The Apple of My Eye

Mother Nank’s Apple Crumble – 16 July 2011

Apparently, Jen was getting the royal treatment this weekend! After the lasagne was such a hit, I was pretty excited to see how Mother Nank’s Apple Crumble might go down.

I got some new oven proof dishes from Alex for my birthday and this was the perfect opportunity to use them. I cooked the lasagne in the big one and the apple crumble in the medium dish and the four ramekins.

This recipe looked pretty simple, but I did run into some trouble when I was writing the shopping list:
"Oi Sian, how do you spell cinnamon?"
"Does it matter? It's just your list."
"Yeah, but I'm not sure I even know how to say it. Which ones are m's and which are n's?"
I should be ashamed, but it's a tricky word!
After preparing the lasagne without any dramas I was feeling good for the dessert. I cut up all the apples (my coring skills leave a lot to be desired) and coated them in the cinnamon and mixed spice. It was again quite simple, just a matter of combining everything up. I used my mixer, but it didn't seem to combine it properly. I think it was the butter. I’m not sure if I should have melted the butter first or perhaps blend the sugar and butter together first, then add the other ingredients, but it really didn't hold together very well. I figured it'd change in the oven somehow and hold together.

After an appropriate amount of time for our lasagne bellies to recover, I popped my crumble in the oven (don’t tell my green friends, but I left the oven on the whole time so it would keep the house slightly warmer) ready to continue impressing Jen. It only needed about ½ an hour all up and seemed cooked through and delicious.

I served it with ice-cream (which I accidentally left on the kitchen floor for ages while I was cooking the lasagne) and it tasted great. However, it looked like absolute shit! The crumble didn't stick together at all and it just ended up in a big mush with the apple and ice-cream. It tasted great, but presentation was not my strong point. Jen seemed to like it though which is great news.

Jen and I only had a little one each so hopefully people at work will scoff the rest.

I look forward to Jen's review, I think it'll be a good one!

Tips: Figure out what I did wrong with the crumble, and do it differently so it sticks together a little bit more.
Music: Sparkadia, The Great Impression.