Petit Riz

I’ve always loved crumbles because they require minimal measuring and the recipe is so elastic. Stir nuts into the flour and butter, combine different fruits in season, try dried fruit soaked in rum during the winter, or add heat with cinnamon and clove. Grate a sharp cheddar cheese into the crumble. Caramelize pears in butter. You don’t even need eggs. It’s the kind of dish you can easily adapt to suit your taste buds.

This afternoon was warm in DC, and with the sun throwing patches of heat onto the kitchen counter, I felt like peeling apples. I peeled five apples and sliced them thinly and sprinkled them with sugar and lemon. I chopped whatever nuts I could find in the fridge. I added ginger for a kick. I plopped blueberries among the apple slices for color. The result was divine. We ate the crumble unadorned. Amanda claims it is less sweet than “American” crumble, my mother says it is quite sweet, and I think it’s just about right. The fruit shines at the center – it’s cooked into a velvet sauce – and there’s enough shortbread crumble coating the apples to make the dish feel like dessert, not breakfast. Although leftovers with yogurt are very good the next morning.

Ingredients:
5-6 apples
Squeeze of lemon juice
1 tbsp. sugar
½ cup brown sugar
5 tbsp. salted butter
11/4-cup flour
1 cup walnuts and pecans, chopped
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. ground ginger
A handful of berries, optional

Directions: 
Preheat the oven to 350F. Peel and core the apples. Slice thinly and place in a large bowl. Add lemon juice and the tablespoon of sugar. Stir gently. In a separate bowl, combine the butter (cut into pieces), the flour, the brown sugar, the baking powder and ginger. Crumble with your fingers until you achieve a sand consistency. Add walnuts and pecans and stir with your fingers. In a cake or pie pan, spread the apples, add berries if you have them (I used blueberries), and shake the crumble onto the fruit. Smooth the surface with a spoon, and bake for fifty minutes, until the crumble is golden and the fruit is bubbling.