Do you sautee your apples when making a crumble

[ByDandyFawn]

Really boring question.

Just made a crumble for the first time in ages. Sautéed the apples in a bit of butter and sugar and then made a slurry as many recipes recommend. Think it made the apples way too mushy.

Do you?

Cause who cares

I soften sliced apples in microwave, always use cooking apples. Then mix in with brown sugar, make my own topping with oats in crumble. Then bake for ten minutes. Drizzle treacle and brown sugar on top, bake for another 10 minutes, serve with custard or vanilla ice cream with a splash of Baileys.

For me the perfect crumble has some stodgy bits where it combines with the fruit juice, and crispy crunchy bits on top, preferably with some pecan nuts mixed in. I want crumble now …

Raw apples
slice (peel if you must)
Into a dish
add some water - say 1/3 the way up the dish
Cobber in crumble and pack it down tight

I don't bother - just peel and slice them and add a sprinkle of sugar and a few dabs of butter. It takes much less time and I like it better when the apples have some bite.

I usually do not peel or precook the apples - most of the time I don't even defrost them if they are frozen.

However, I made this https://cloudykitchen.com/blog/apple-pie-filling/ last week to go inside https://cloudykitchen.com/blog/apple-pie-bars/ and it was very, very nice.

No. I did it once and it was too mooshy. Never did it again and it's always turned out fine.

The whole point of Bramleys is that they collapse into nothing when cooked and don't need faffing around with in a pan before baking. If you want firm pieces, you use eaters rather than cookers or a mixture of the two.

peel, core, chop. Dredge in a little cornflour and a tiny bit of cinnamon, add sugar to taste.

Make up a double batch of crumble as I have hungry crumble buggers.

Sprinkle crumble over apples in a greased crumble dish (deep glass Pyrex), make a couple of holes for steam to escape.

Sprinkle with brown sugar.

Bake.

I bake them for a short amount of time with a splash of water and a sprinkling of cinnamon and brown sugar.

As I've been making apple and blackberry, I've taken to mixing through the frozen berries before putting on the crumble.

I've had a few epiphanies about crumble recently; chopping the apples into quite hefty chunks rather than previously, when I'd do slices. Also found a 'forever' topping recipe; ends up almost like chunks of crumbly, buttery biscuit.

This, is OP in the US? We definitely call it stewing in the UK

No, never. Peel, slice, toss with sugar and cinnamon then top with crumble and bake.

I tend to microwave mine for a bit to get them started.

Nope I’m just extremely amateur. Mumsnet always picks on my use of “sautéing” 😂

That's what I definitely wouldn't do. That's what's caused your problem I think.

I slice my apples, soften with a little butter and cinnamon sugar in a pan then put in bottom of baking tray, crumble on top, then into oven. Apples soften nicely and softened sugary juices caramelise around the edge. The slurry would thicken it all wrirdlh

I cook the apples in water, sugar and cinnamon for a very short time , mainly so they don’t go brown. They’re still fairly firm when I finish.

I then put them in a bowl, put the crumble on top, and then put the who lot in the oven.

What’s the point of cooking the apples a little?

To stop them going brown.

A bit of lemon juice stops them going brown, and they don’t end up as mush.

No, absolutely not. Much better with uncooked apples.

No. I chuck chopped apples in a ceramic dish, whizz up butter flour and then sugar in a food processor, chuck that on top of the apple and put it in the oven. It’s always delicious. Especially if I’ve added frozen berries.

Not if using fresh apples but I had a ton of windfall apples in October and cooked them before freezing in bags.
A great tip I got from Nancy Birtwhistle is that if you make a crumble mix, make loads. Store in a polythene bag in the freezer. It doesn't freeze solid so you can just sprinkle over fruit and bake for an extra quick pudding.

depends on the kind of apple.

eating apples, yes cook them first to soften them a little (though I only put them in the oven for 15 min before adding the crumble topping)

eating apples will 'melt' during cooking. so no pre-cooking those.

Never. I like Bramleys and a bit of brown sugar for the apple.