Give me your best crumble tips and ideas

[Highlove]

I've just discovered I really love crumble. How I've got to not far from 40 before discovering it I don't know, but I always thought I didn't like it. What a weirdo. I blame my first boyfriend's mum who was (probably still is) a truly awful cook and used to make it at any given opportunity. Anyway, at the moment I can't get enough of it. So, hit me with your favourites things to do/twists.

I add a slug of spiced rum to the apples when I soften them on the hob, then use dessicated coconut in the crumble mix. Heaven.

Switch out 50% of the flour for muesli for an awesome crunchy crumble topping. Thanks Delia...

I add oats to my topping. If you want a good store cupboard crumble that's a bit different try tinned peaches and tinned pineapple. I've never served it and had any left in the dish and I've served it thousands of times!

Yy to stirring in oats (obviously makes healthy ) and I also like stirring in sugar too (not so healthy...)

Oats and some golden syrup in the topping make gorgeous flapjack crumble. I LOVE crumble!

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1774/apple-flapjack-crumble

Ground ginger in rhubarb crumble is lovely.

DH adds oats to his and it's gorgeous. Also Apple, blackberry and cinnamon is heaven

Oats and demerara sugar in the topping if you like it crunchy!

I agree with the oats, half flour, half oats, teaspoon of cinnamon with apple crumble, muscovado sugar.
I never pre cook my apples, just bung it all in.
Twas a BBC recipe.

I use 1/3 oats to 2/3 flour in the topping. And a good heaped teaspoon of cinnamon.

Tinned blackberries are practically as good as fresh or frozen. Tinned apple isn't as good but means you can whip up a crumble in under 5 minutes. Tinned or fresh rhubarb with bits of stem ginger is great.

coarsely chopped almonds in the topping is lovely

Roasted strawberries in with the apple filling. Heaven....

Oh wow, thank you. Would it be wrong to eat a different version every night this week?

Keep them coming!

And in the interests of sharing good ideas, I've found ground almonds work really well. Half and half with flour. Lush and v crunchy.

Does not everybody put sugar in the topping then? I thought that was standard but now I'm not sure.

Cook with quite a high temp until the crumble is browned, then reduce heat to low and leave cooking for a while longer. The crumble goes really fudgy and caramelises.

I like to stew apples and or plums with sugar and cinnamon, and add in blackberries - all from the garden.
If it's the wrong season farmfoods sell bags of frozen apple slices £1 either use them straight from frozen if you don't mind them firmish. Or stew them down a bit.
I love warm crumble with icecream, I want some now!

Is pear crumble good? I have 5 to eat...

I bet pears would be nice, any fruit that needs using up I would use, maybe not bananas?!
Yes sugar is standard.

A mixture of brown sugar and granulated sugar. Makes all the difference to the taste.

I make a mean rhubarb and strawberry crumble. DS1 says its the food of the Gods.

Dark brown sugar when cooking the apples to give them a toffee taste. Dark choc chips sprinkled over the crumble mix before baking.

Right that's it, the word crumble popping up every few minutes has made me need crumble.

We're now having apple and strawberry crumble for pudding tonight.

Brown/muscovado sugar rather than white. In the topping and the fruit.

For apple, use eating apples ( a mix of Braeburn and Cox is epic), slice and then saute them in butter with sugar, mixed spice and then add a slug of orange juice. You can also add sultanas/raisins etc. Soak them in hot orange juice beforehand if poss. Delicious!

I always do Delia's almond crumble topping:

4oz almonds whizzed in mini-chopper because I only have a mini-chopper so they are fine but some still a bit chunky, Definitely not the same as a packet of ground almonds
3 oz butter
6oz flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
4 oz demerara sugar

If you have a food processor you could then whizz it together but I don't so I do flour and butter together with fingers like pastry and then everything together. It's the best crumble ever.

Plus if doing apple crumble stick some raisins or sultanas soaked in brandy in. Lush

Nigellas strawberry and almond crumble is amazing

Grate lemon zest onto filling before sprinkling the crumble topping on.

We used to run a pub, and I made the puddings. People went wild for apple and banana as well as almond and apricot.

Apple and banana = just add bananas to normal one

Apricot and almond. Mix ground almonds in with apricots and put flaked almonds on top.