Tower Talk: Christmas trifle

Tower Talk: Christmas trifle

Cold enough to crumble

Last weekend it was cold enough to put away the shorts and wear jeans for the first time since May. Even better, it was cold enough to justify rolling the kids' sleeves up and cooking  a delicious English dish (yes, there is such a thing) - an apple crumble. Often considered a poor relation to the grander apple pie, I actually prefer it - it's simple to make, always tastes good straight out of the oven and tastes just as good the second or third day chilled from the fridge. Here's the rough recipe I use that my father taught me, which I am doing my best to hand down to the kids (see below for action shot of crumbling in progress):

You will need:

• Four or five large apples
• Lemon juice
• 100g of sugar
• 100g of flour
• 100g of butter
• cinnamon

1. Peel and de-pip the apples, chop into bite-size pieces. Throw them in a saucepan, sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar (to bring out the juice), some cinnamon (for flavour) and a tablespoon of flour (to thicken the juice) and stew for five minutes or so and squirt a bit of lemon juice in
   
2. Pour contents into a deep baking dish or bowl
3. Mix the flour, sugar and butter in another bowl with your hands, rubbing the butter in until what is left is all crumbly.
4. Sprinkle the crumble evenly across the top of the stewed apples.
5. Put in the oven for 20 minutes or so at 160 degrees.
6. Eat with custard, whipped cream or ice cream on top.