Winter Warmer 4 : Gluten Free Apple and Nuts Crumble

Prefere using Granny Smith apples for this recipe, their acidity balances perfectly the sweetness of the crumble.  You have to make sure your butter is cold and cut into small cubes. If your butter is soft, you will end up with a sweet dough, not a crumble mix.

Ingredients

For the apple compote :

• 12 Granny Smith apples
• 200 g Brown sugar
• 1 Vanilla pod
• Juice of ½ lemon

For the crumble mixture :

• 50g Corn flour (un-wheaten)
• 100g Hazelnut meal
• 150g Buckwheat flour
• 50g Walnut pieces (or hazelnut, macadamia,…)
• 180g Unsalted butter
• 180g Brown sugar

Method

1. Peel the apples, cut them in half, core them, and cut into large cubes. Pre-heat oven on 170°C.
2. In a pot, put the apples, sugar, vanilla pod (sliced lengthwise in two)  and lemon juice. Put on high heat, and let cook while stirring often till the apples are soft and translucent on the outside, but still firm in the middle (use a knife to evaluate). Depending on your stove and pot, you may have to lower the heat after a while.
3. While this is cooking, put together in a large mixing bowl the flours, meal and sugar. Mix together with fingers quickly. Add the butter (cut into small cubes, and straight from the fridge). Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the mixture until it looks like very coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in the nut pieces.
4. Put the apple compote in an ovenware, removing the vanilla pod (but scrap the inside with the tip of a knife), sprinkle over the top with the crumble mixture, till you have a thick layer.
5. Bake till the crumble mix is golden (generally around 20 minutes). Serve without waiting.