Maple Pecan Apple Crumble

I still have apples left from our apple picking fest in East Grinstead and as the weather seems to be becoming increasingly chilly I thought it a good idea to cheer us up with a crumble.

Can't think of why I decided on maple pecan as a flavour choice, other than that I love maple syrup and DW loves pecans. We have a bag of them on top of the fridge that he is slowly (and he thinks secretly) devouring! The maple syrup does make the whole thing very sweet, but it also gives a lovely sticky toffee consistency to the apples that I really liked. I made these just for 2, and after a roast dinner they were rather large portions, luckily for me DW was on hand to finish mine off.

Maple Pecan Apple Crumble

4 smallish bramley apples. peeled, cored and cut into chunks

1 tsp lemon juice

1 heaped tbsp caster sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp maple syrup

handful broken pecan nuts

For the crumble

100g plain flour

60g cold butter, cut into small pieces

25g caster sugar

pinch cinnamon

Pre-heat your oven to 200C (180C fan oven), gas mark 5. Place apple pieces, lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, 1 tbsp maple syrup and nuts in a pan. Cook over a medium heat for 5 - 10 minutes until the apple is softened and the mixture sticky. If you would prefer your nuts to be at their optimum crunchyness then stir them into the apple mixture at the end. Spoon into a baking dish or dishes and drizzle over the remaining maple syrup.

To make the crumble, put the flour in a bowl and rub in the cold chunks of butter until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and cinnamon and layer over the apple mixture. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. At this point have a look and see if your crumble is crisped and bubbling to you liking, if not return to the oven for another 5 - 10 minutes, then devour with cream or ice cream!