To Try Tuesday - Any Season Fruit Crumble

The last of the Ginger Gold apples sat on my counter top.  Joining them were some Bartlett pears.  In the refrigerator was half a container of raspberries.  This is the only downside of buying in bulk from Costco.  Sometimes my family gets sick of eating a large container of fruit before it is past its prime.  I have to remember to get creative and use it up as I hate to waste food.

Since it is To Try Tuesday I thought that a great way to use up the apples, pears, and raspberries would be in a recipe I had saved called Any Season Fruit Crumble. I printed it out from Epicurious but the original credit goes to a book called Fearless Baking by Elinor Klivans.  I am almost positive I own this book but I am in the process of cataloging all of my cookbooks, so I don't know for sure.  I do know that I own a couple of other books by the same author: 

* Chocolate Cakes: 50 Great Cakes for Every Occasion

* The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook

* Cookies, Brownies, and Bars

* Big Fat Cookies

* Fast Breads: 50 Recipes for Easy, Delicious Bread which is her latest book.

I did make a few changes to the recipe.  For the filling the original recipe calls for apples, but since it is called Any Season I used what I had on hand.  Also, in the topping I used brown sugar rather than white sugar, and I added cinnamon.  I just threw it all in the mini food processor and pulsed it until it resembled crumbs.

The house smelled so wonderful as it was baking, but the true test was in the tasting.  I just loved the rich, crumbly topping.  The hint of salt played really well off the brown sugar.  This one is a keeper.

Any Season Fruit Crumble 

(recipe adapted from Fearless Baking)

Ingredients

Fruit filling

• 3 cups apples peeled, cored, and chopped into 1/2-to 3/4-inch pieces (about 3 large apples)
• 3 cups peeled, cored, and chopped pears into 1/2-to 3/4-inch pieces (about 3 pears)
• 1 cup raspberries
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Crumble topping (Makes about 3 cups crumbs)

• 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 pound (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 3/4-inch pieces

Preparation

Prepare the Filling

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Put the apples in a glass or ceramic baking container with a 2 1/2-quart capacity. Either an 8- or 9-inch square baking dish or a 9 1/2- to 10-inch diameter round pie dish, both with 1 3/4- to 2-inch high sides, works well. 
2. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Sprinkle the sugar mixture and lemon juice over the apples. 
3. Stir the mixture to combine the ingredients, spreading them in an even layer in the baking dish. Set aside.

Mix the Topping

1. Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and use a large spoon to stir them together. 
2. Add the butter pieces, stirring to coat them with the flour. Rub the butter pieces and flour between your thumb and fingertips or cut them together with a pastry blender until coarse crumbs form that are about 1/2 to 3/4 inch in size, there is no loose flour, and the mixture looks pale yellow rather than white (I used a food processor and just pulsed the mixture)
3. Spread the crumbs evenly over the apple mixture.

Bake and Serve the Crumble

1. Bake about 40 minutes until the crumb topping is golden but with a few spots of light brown, and the apples are tender when tested with a toothpick. 
2. Let the crumble cool about 15 minutes before serving. 
3. Spoon the warm crumble onto individual plates and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, if desired. 
4. The crumble can be baked a day ahead, cooled, covered, and stored at room temperature. Warm it, uncovered, in a preheated 250°F oven for 15 minutes.

Yield: Makes 6 servings  

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