There is nothing better than on a Sunday evening sitting down to a roast dinner with a crumble served up for dessert. Throughout the year we alternate what we put into our crumble from Rhubarb in Spring to Apple crumble as the temperatures drop and Banana and Rum in the summer months. It's a favourite and although I have special crumble mixes mostly I use my grandmothers basic crumble topping recipe. It's really easy to make and only has 3 store cupboard ingredients but throw whatever fruit that you have around and make this family-friendly dessert for others.
What You'll Find on This Page
Ingredients for your Basic Crumble Topping Recipe
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Plain Flour (all purpose) it is really important that you only use plain or all purpose flour we've tried with self raising but it really doesn't work very well.
Unsalted Butter Cubed - don't get it to room temperature for this recipe it really does work best if you have the butter cold.
Caster Sugar or granulated sugar works. You can switch out half the white sugar for a brown sugar as well.
Top Tip for Making the Crumble Mix
Read our top tips and then scroll down to get a printable recipe card to make it easier to make this next weekend too! Watch the video below to see how we used this delicious crumble mix with our very own cooking apples to create an amazing rainy day dessert.
The most important thing when making crumble like when you make pastry is to have cold hands this will stop the butter from softening and you can then rub it into the crumb consistency needed.
Run your hands under a cold tap before you start rubbing the butter into the flour.
How to Make the Crumble in the Food Processor
I've just got my first ever food processor and this has cut the time making the crumble mixture down to a matter of seconds. Same ingredients as before.
- Cube the cold butter.
- Pour the flour and butter into the food processor.
- Pulse it to mix to a breadcrumb consistency.
- Pour into a bowl.
- Add the Sugar.
Then use as you would normally use.
Eat the crumble hot or cold with custard, ice-cream or my personal favourite natural yoghurt.
Use this crumble topping to make this delicious Apple Crumble perfect for a Rainy Day Dessert and ideal comfort food.
This mix can be used instead of the brown sugar mix on the Blackberry Crumble Muffins
How to FreezE your Crumble Topping Mix to Use Another Day
One of the reasons I love this basic crumble recipe so much is how easy it is to make. You can make a bulk of it (2:1 ratio with the flour and butter and then add in sugar 3 tablespoons per 100g of flour) and then freeze.
I use our freezer storage boxes and divide up into family portions and then can take them out on a weekday and use them for a quick and easy delicious crumble in the evening.
Defrost through the day and just pour over the chopped fruit before cooking.
Basic Mix for Fruit and Apple Crumble Toppings
Equipment
- Bowl
- Knife
Ingredients
- 100 g Plain Flour all purpose
- 50 g unsalted butter cubed
- 3 Tablespoons Caster Sugar
- Fruit of your choice
Instructions
- Add cold cubed butter to the flour.
- Rub the butter in so that it becomes a crumb like consistency.
- Add the caster sugar and mix together.
- Cut your fruit and then place the crumble topping over.
- It takes around 25 - 35 minutes in the oven preheated to 200C depending on the depth of the crumble to cook and crust nicely.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
More family favourite Desserts to Enjoy
Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding Recipe
Raspberry and Vanilla Cheesecake Bars
Cerys Parker
Cerys is a marine biologist, environmental educator, high school teacher and mum. Realising that life doesn't have to be put on hold and you don't just have to survive whilst the kids are young she shares ideas to inspire you to LIVE with the kids, with activities to do together, recipes to cook and enjoy and family travel to make memories to last a lifetime.
Amanda says
I love making a batch of crumble topping and keeping it in the freezer when I want to make use a bit for tossing into ice cream or oatmeal... or use the whole thing for crumbles and pies. It's perfect
Denay DeGuzman says
This quick and easy crumble topping recipe is so delicious! I used mine with apples and served it with a side of ice cream. So darn yummy!
Wendy says
I just made a huge batch today and put it in the freezer for all my muffins and desserts. Thanks for a great recipe.
Sandra says
Perfect basic crumble recipe! I used on a Country Apple Pie instead of the pie crusts! It was, well... perfect.
Christina says
Thank you for providing such a great tutorial. I've used this several times already!