Apple Crumble

The time has come for warm deserts slathered in vanilla ice cream (vanilla bean please!). The best warm desserts I know of are pies, but I am not much of a pie person (cherry pie, yuck!).

Baked apples though ... those speak to me. Oh geez. They don't just speak, sometimes they raise their voices in a mightily building crescendo. Each tender apple slice melding its voice together with that of the nearby cinnamon, brown sugar and butter. Each piece simple, but adding to the glorious music of dessert. Wow. I mean, wow. Baked apples. That's the way to go.

This crumble was inspired by a wonderful Plum Crumble recipe in the GI High-Energy Cookbook. I changed a few things, and baked the whole thing in a 9x9 brownie pan. How delicious!

Apple Crumble
serves 4

What you will need:
A 9x9 baking dish (I used a glass Pyrex dish, this probably affected my baking time. Remember to keep an eye on your dishes as they bake)
1 medium mixing bowl

Ingredients:
6-8 small Macintosh apples (or any other type of baking apple)
3 tbsp light brown sugar
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour (may use all purpose)
1/4 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp butter, room temperature
3 tbsp additional light brown sugar
2/3 cup rolled oats (not instant)
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 c water

Instructions:
Peel and core apples. Then cut into chunks and place in bottom of baking dish. Sprinkle 1/2 the water over the top of apples, and mix in brown sugar. Mix until brown sugar is evenly distributed.

In separate mixing bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Using your hands, mix together the flour and butter. The mixture should eventually become very crumbly, almost like breadcrumbs. At this point mix in the brown sugar, oats and spices. Add water sparingly and mix with a fork to create larger clumps.

Spoon crumble mixture over the top of apples. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Serve warm with ice cream.