The Best Apple Crumble

I make this recipe for most family occasions, especially Rosh Hashanah, Thanksgiving, and Christmas (we'll take any excuse to bake delicious things). My extended family is obsessed with it, obviously since it involves butter and sugar. If you want to impress a party, bring this crumble. It's not terribly hard to make, just a little time consuming, and it's absolutely fantastic.

Your Ingredients:

FILLING:

• 8 large baking apples
• Juice of 1-2 lemons (depending on how big they are)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves

TOPPING:

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 2 sticks of butter

This recipe is quite large and can serve about 20-25 people. It is easiest to make if you have a food processor, but doable without. Let's get started!

I but Rome apples for baking. They are large and not great for eating raw, but wonderful when baked. For this recipe I used about 8 large apples.

• Peel and core the apples
• Cute them into thirds length-wise
• Then slice them horizontally to about 1/4 inch thick - no need to be too precise

Add

• 2 tbs tapioca
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tbs cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• Juice of 1-2 lemons

to the apples and mix thoroughly with you hands. The mixture needs to sit for about 15 minutes so the tapioca has time to expand. This is the perfect time to make your topping.

This would be a good time to preheat the oven. 375º F is good.

Combine

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 2 sticks butter (room temp or slightly colder)

in the food processor. Add the flour and sugar first and pulse to combine, then chunk up the butter and pulse again. DO NOT COMBINE THOROUGHLY. A few pulses will do. The butter needs to remain in smaller pieces. This is because, in the next step, you need to form this mixture into chunks with your hands.

Start placing the topping mixture on top of the apples. Don't just sprinkle it on. You will need to grab fistfuls of the topping and drop it on so they keep their shape. This makes those delicious chunks of buttery topping after you bake it. The more chunks the better. Some of them will fall apart, and that's ok because you need to cover the whole thing, but go for chunks! Topping is everyone's favorite part, so don't be stingy!

Place the crumble on a middle shelf in the preheated oven. Set a timer for 30 minutes, it won't be done in 30 minutes, but you want to check whether it is burning on the top at the time. If it is, place a piece of foil over the top. Don't seal it, just rest it on top. Then bake for another 15-25 minutes. You'll have to keep an eye on it finishing it up and use your best judgement.

This crumble is best if made the day that you are going to serve it (although leftovers for breakfast are pretty clutch). Enjoy and wonder at the powers of butter and sugar!