Crumbles are not Italian, but I have learned to love them because they are very Italian in spirit—fresh fruit and a simple topping come together to create a homey dessert everyone will love. The trick to making a crisp, clumpy topping is to squeeze the clumps a little.
Apple Cranberry Crumble
Crumble di Mele e Mirtilli
Ingredients
For the filling
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces, plus 1 tablespoon, softened, forthe baking dish
- 3 pounds cooking apples, such as Golden Delicious, peeled and cut into chunks
- 2 cups fresh cranberries
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- Kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
For the topping
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup chopped almonds
- 3/4 cup rolled oats (old-fashioned, not instant)
- 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- Kosher salt
- 1 stick unsalted butter, slightly softened
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a large cast-iron skillet. Combine the apples, cranberries, granulated sugar, flour, ¼ teaspoon salt, and lemon juice in a large bowl, and toss well. Transfer to the skillet. Dot the top with the cold butter pieces.
- Wipe out the bowl, and make the topping. Add the flour, almonds, oats, brown sugar, ginger, nutmeg, and ¼ teaspoon salt to the bowl. Toss to combine. Cut the cutter into five or six pieces. Work the butter in with your fingers until the topping is evenly moistened.
- Squeeze clumps of the topping in your palm, a few tablespoons at a time, and scatter them over the fruit. Bake until the crumble topping is golden and crisp and the fruit juices are bubbly, about 40 to 50 minutes. Cool on a rack, and serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
From Lidia’s a Pot, a Pan, and a Bowl by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali. Copyright © 2021 by Tutti a Tavola, LLC. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.