Kelly the Culinarian: Cooking with Kelly: Apple crumble

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Cooking with Kelly: Apple crumble

What's a girl with an apple pie craving and no oven to do? Get creative.

I had two huge apples from Eastern Market, a Honeycrisp and a Mutsu, which are different colors and tastes that I thought would complement each other well. After doing a little research on the web, I decided to go with an unconventional, individual apple crumble pie.

Here's what you need for two servings:

2 large apples

3 sheets phyllo dough (you could also use a prepared pie crust cut in half)

1 packet sugar or sweetener

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 pinch table salt or finely ground sea salt

1/4 cup butter


Because my pie wasn't going in the oven, I started by putting the apple slices in my electric skillet for about 10 minutes with a packet of splenda (that's just what I had on hand) to get the cooking process started. This helped soften the apples and shrink them down. While they cooked, I make the crumble out of the oatmeal, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and butter. I also trimmed the phyllo sheets into four sections, using two section per pie for a total of six layers of phyllo dough. I used it so I could get a quick-cooking crust that still had a flaky texture. I trimmed the phyllo to fit into my Xpress101 cooked, which I oiled with a bit of vegetable oil. Then I layered the apples and crumble on top and cooked until the crumble was warmed through and a bit brown on top, about eight minutes. There will be leftover crumble and apples for the next time. I served it with a tablespoon of vanilla yogurt.


This turned out quite delicious and took care of the craving. The phyllo created a flaky crust and the apples, because they were precooked, were soft and delicious, but still retained its original flavor. The crumble was delicious because some of the sugar had hardened, creating a great crunch.
If I can do this without an oven in 20 minutes, imagine how fast and easy this could be in a normal kitchen!


20 comments:

Taylor said...

You should teach cooking classes to students that live in dorms without a kitchen!

Tracy Tan said...

how innovative :)

i would be just whining and grumbling about my lack of oven and skip apple crumble altogether!

but you know that i just got a small oven so i'm raring to go :)

Everything4sweets said...

This is a good idea, look so yummy.

daphne said...

that's really creative kelly! and that's having such a limited kitchen! *applaud*

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

yum, yum, yum! i could totally make this veganized!

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

You're certainly getting creative in your ovenless kitchen!

Finla said...

This is a real clever idea.
And it looks delicious

FH said...

My neighbor went to the mountains this weekend and gave us about 10 Apples she picked there!! Great recipe for me try. Thanks Kelly!:))

A Mature Student said...

Ingenious!

Looks good too!

Swaruchy said...

Nice one there kelly...Loved it....A novel idea and a yummy dish :-)

East Meets West Kitchen said...

Sounds delicious and very creative!

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

You need to talk to my daughter who is at university with a toaster oven, a crockpot, and a kettle. Very innovative idea Kelly!!!

tigerfish said...

What a clever way to do it without the oven!

Coffee and Vanilla said...

I must try to make crumble finally! It looks delicious.

Margot

Mansi said...

Interesting dish Kelly! I bet you had fun eating all of it:)

Fruity said...

Very creative! Not like me, always end up with Mac apple pies [buying from them!] :)

We Are Never Full said...

Very creative!! If I had a food blog when I was in college it would included my creative (and cheap!) cooking recipes like the infamous white rice (mushy at the time) with soy sauce, the delicious microwave popcorn dipped in mayo/ketchup mix (it was good when I was hungover!) and my most creative at the time, macaroni and cheese (from the box). I've always loved to cook but for some reason that passion went on hiatus during my years at college. I applaud your creativity and your defiance in blogging about cafeteria food! amy @ neverfull.wordpress.com

David Hall said...

Apple crumble - a British classic! Although you make it much different to the way I do. Lovely recipe.

Cheers
David

Lady Gargle said...

You're making me hungry :) and that looks delicious. I'll try your recipe this weekend

clare said...

What about if all you have is a microwave and a hob...? (I'm a student, and that's all they give us...)

Clare.