My Grandma’s 4-Ingredient Dessert Is The Only Apple Recipe You Need This Fall

It's a delicious way to use your apple haul.

By
Keaton Larson
Keaton Larson
Keaton Larson
Keaton Larson is a SEO writer for Allrecipes. He has worked in the front and back of house of many restaurants, doing everything for serving and hospitality to cooking, preparing pizza dough, or pressing tortillas. Keaton graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2021 with a bachelors degree in English and a minor in professional writing.
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Published on September 11, 2024
Apple crumble in 2 bowls topped with ice cream
Photo:

Aimee B

There are quite a few ways to use apples once the leaves start to turn, and I am a fan of nearly all of them. I love apples, especially when they are fresh, in-season, and baked. 

Last year, I wrote about my Grandma’s apple coffee cake, which is a seasonal favorite of mine during the fall months. But that’s not the only apple dessert my Grandma has in her recipe box. She lived until she was 96—if you live that long, you accumulate quite a few recipes, and you learn how to perfect them.

My Grandma also has a simple, sweet apple crumble, and she perfected this one too. There’s only four ingredients. It’s an easy, delicious fix for your fall apple haul that can be customized to your liking.

How to Make My Grandma’s Apple Crumble

My Grandma’s crumble only uses apples, brown sugar, flour, and butter. That’s it. Of course, there are easy ingredients to add to this recipe that can make it more delicious. Cinnamon, nutmeg, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream are all great examples.

Because there are only four ingredients, the quality of each matters. Use the best apples you can find:  Braeburn, Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Golden Delicious, and Honeycrisp are all great choices. I like to use two different kinds of apples when I bake this recipe because it changes the flavor ever-so-slightly in a delicious way.

Light brown sugar is what I like to use because it is a little less sweet than dark brown sugar and it's more often used in baking. As for flour and butter, you can use what you have at home. All-purpose should work just fine. If you want to go the extra mile, a richer, high-quality butter can bring the flavor full circle. Ingredients like baking soda or baking powder are as important for a recipe like this because you are cooking a crumble, not a cake.

My Grandma’s Apple Crumble

Ingredients:

  • 8 to 10 apples, sliced
  • 1 ½ cup brown sugar
  • ¾ cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the baking dish
  • About 9 tablespoons of butter (a little over 1 stick), plus more for coating the baking dish


Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x13-inch baking dish with butter and dust with flour.
  2. Place the sliced apples in the baking dish.
  3. Mix your measured brown sugar, flour, and butter until crumbly.
  4. Sprinkle over the apples, and bake in the oven for about 1 hour, or until bubbly and set.
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