Go to the Recipe: Simple Fruit Crumble With Oatmeal Streusel Topping
Great recipe, especially the tip about cloudy vs. clear juices. The only problem I have is that my wife is allergic to almonds (as in inject-the-Epipen-and-call-the-ambulance allergic) so almond flour is NOT going to happen at my house. Fortunately, no one in the house is sensitive to gluten so wheat flour would be a viable alternative. Are the proportions still the same for wheat flour? Any particular variety you'd recommend (AP would, of course, be easiest)?
Not to be an insufferable know-it-all but:
I noticed the filling had over 100% of ingredients.
Now, I'm sure this is 377% delicious but it might be more accurate to state the formula as :
Which helps to show why the percentages can be confusing:
Which, in this case, gives you reasonably close values for the cornstarch and sugar anyway. But if your formula instead used a 100 : 2 : 30 ratio, the percentages would work out to be: 75.8%, 1.5%, 22.7%. Which could be the case on a future recipe. And it has an 8 point disparity on the sugar which is a 26% difference on the intended value.
Or, as better demonstrated:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XhVLcc36Nk
Sorry. Love the site!
um... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker_percentage
This might go well with chicken and dumplings as part of a theme dinner.
Looks like a nice recipe using almond flour (unfortunately not widely available in the Czech Republic). Here is one suggestion that might be worth checking out for you guys. I usually add 2 more ingredients because they are so darn yummy and healthy: fresh ginger (almost thumb size piece) in the streusel and fresh vanilla into the fruit or the other way round depending on how fresh you want it to taste. Fresher taste put ginger into the fruit - rounder sweeter taste put the vanilla into the fruit. Vanilla actually makes you happy and ginger is just anyhow super healthy and helps you to keep your insulin level lower. Let me know what you think :-)
Great recipe - thanks! Just curious if you think this would also work using brown sugar in place of some of the white for the crumble (and if so, what ratio might be best).
You start off with however much fruit you have which is 100%. Then its 2% of the weight of the fruit in cornstarch, 10% of the weight of the fruit in sugar, etc.
I would think any type of nut flour would work well, not just almond flour. I'm thinking pecan flour with peaches, walnut flour with blueberries or blackberries, or hazelnut flour with strawberries. If all tree nuts are out of the question, I would start with 1:1 all-purpose wheat to nut flour, but be careful not to over-work the butter into the flour, and also keep everything chilled (like you might with a pie crust). Otherwise you might not be able to get that crumbly texture as easily.
Wish I had this recipe last week when I picked up 2 pounds of blackberries from the farmer's market! The pie I made was delicious, but this crumble would have been way easier. Every other crumble recipe I've seen has had a disappointing end result when I've made it, with either soggy fruit or not crisp crumble topping. Excited to try this out!
Oh, cool. Being a new and amateur to cooking in general, I was not aware that bakers had their own math rules. It is good to know and makes reading this type of formula make more sense. Thanks for clearing up my confusion. Although, I wouldn't exactly expect people to know this notation; especially since this site is aimed towards those that are trying to learn. As it is more general knowledge that you cannot have more than 100% of anything tangible, unless you have gone to Baker's Math school.
It's just weird when niche's make their own math. The Wikipedia article, for example, has an error in it's notation of the formula.
It shows:
Which evaluates in math to:
Because:
Example:
It should be:
As even Wikipedia will tell you:
Math is supposed to be the universal language and that is part of what is awesome with math. Breaking the universal aspect is a shame but not ChefSteps fault. But just like ChefSteps embraces the metric system for its obvious superiority, isn't there a good case for ditching Baker's Math?
If you start with the assumption that "all percentages are relative to the fruit" there is no math being broken. The confusion comes when you start with the assumption that "all percentages are relative to the final product." This is not a problem with math, only perspective.
I always wonder in recipes whether almond flour means the ground almonds you would use for something like macarons or the finely ground 'flour' used as a gluten free alternative?
So funny same day I see your FB post. Just made an Apple crumble. 2 Granny Smiths & 1 Braeburn 1/4" dice, 1/2 cup Crasisins, 1/4 cup Orange juice w/ zest, 2/3 cup brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon Allspice, 2/3 cup flour, 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/3 of stick of butter. 30 minutes at 400 degrees. Not too sweet turned out well.
I love this simple formula, but the best thing about it is how, if you follow the video it works like "magic" cuz you can turn your cherries into strawberries just by adding cornstarch! WhooT -- great trick, I can't wait to try
Made a Peach Crumble, paired with malted milkshake flavored gelato. Must be eaten while listening to this video: https://youtu.be/dL8hL9Uwp5k?t=58m14s
home run!
What does he mean he "can't figure out 2"? It's just math, and not even a particularly difficult equation.
2/1000*100 = 2%
This teacher needs to get his act together.
Anybody thought of doing it with Durian? Or any other soft fruits?
Are the proportions listed in reference to volume or weight?
Fresh from the oven, scoop of the best vanilla ice cream you can find / concoct, this is a pipeline straight to my childhood, sticky ice cream mouth ring and pure excitement at the scent coming from the oven. The streusel is The Best Everâ„¢. Worthy !
Any adverse effects from prepping the night before? Tips?
It's in the oven (which I just cranked up), and looks great with a few added flavorings to my preferences. I am wondering why there is a need for egg yolk in the topping as I have never had the need to put egg yolk in any streusel/crumb topping I've made before. Just curious because I made the topping without (egg yolk), and it held together perfectly. Also, the temperature (325 degrees F) seems rather low so that you have to bake the fruit longer to get the cornstarch to the proper temperature to gel properly. Most crumbles/crisps I have previously made bake hotter and shorter and was wondering the reasons behind these instructions? Thanks!
I tried prepping the night before. The results were a little too soupy for me. Just a heads up on my experience.
Hey! Just made this tonight. flavours are great. For the fruit I used about 90% Asian pears, because we found out we had two pear trees after moving in a couple weeks ago, and 10% granny smith apples. Turned out to be just over 2Kg of fruit. Now, I cooked it until the juices were clear, took a bit longer than 45 minutes. My only question is, the juices now are quite runny. Would I have to adjust the percentage of cornstarch for the type of fruit used? More for fruit that has more water content? Should I have cooked it for longer instead? The fruit is tender, but still has a bit of bite in it, but it's not mushy. This time around I'm going to drain the liquid and reduce it then add it back in. Just curious what I could do for next time. I'm thinking I should cook it for longer if I'm using the same fruit.
Love this formula! The one contribution I have to offer is why not set the oats in the streusel as a percentage (10%) of the fruit as well? Then we have a consistent baker's ratio of streusel to fruit mixture. (In my case, saving the mystery of all those little baggies of crumbly stuff sitting around in the freezer.) For my second batch I subbed in a fancy oatmeal ancient grain mixture that I got at Whole Foods the other day, giving me a blend of quinoa flakes, flax, amaranth, etc. It looks great, and will come out of the oven soon. I watch for all the ChefSteps posts via Feedly, and enjoy them immensely. Thanks!
does 3.3lbs of fruit seem like a lot to anyone else?
Perfect for the upcoming fall cabin outing! Can mix all the dry ingredients in advance to make it even simpler. Will probably use a cast iron skillet, so will be extra careful about the cooking time. Thank you.
This is a great recipe. I had a hard time finding almond flour so I tried coconut flour instead and paired it with peaches and blueberries. I also swapped the lemon juice for some key lime juice I had left over from pie. The lime juice and coconut gave the crumble and exotic twist.
Curious how this turned out in the skillet!
If you'll note at the top next to the ingredients, this recipe makes 6-8 servings, or 8.8-6.6oz per serving. if you don't want to make that much, make a smaller batch
well, actually they're mass. the lower case g next to the number stands for grams, which is the metric unit for mass. weight would be newtons. i don't think there's any volumetric measurements in this recipe. Grant has an issue with volume measurements.
WAY too much salt for the fruit. Try a pinch - you'll get a far better result.
Terrible recipe... if you like a crumble to mimic the texture of cardboard, you'll love this recipe.
I preferred slightly less salt than suggested, but otherwise I believe this is a fantastic base recipe - I had great success with a variety of stone fruits and apples, and strawberries (all separate batches) Keep up the great work - I really appreciate it.
Dear ChefSteps, You guys rock. This recipe is top notch, It's spring in Australia & I've made it with various fresh berries a few times already. Cheers.
You've probably already considered this, but I'd like to give it a +1. I don't always have exactly 0.5x, 1x, 2x or 4x the ingredients to make up. For convenience, can you please consider building in a selectable scale which might show the percentages for each?? (I've used the Modernist Cuisine ones & they're fine). I mostly reference the ChefSteps app on my phone while cooking or this web page, depending on convenience at the time. In this particular page I felt reading through the text to find percentages is a small hassle (thanks for including % though), & just got in the way of cooking. For now I've written them down for future reference.
Not a major deal, just my 2 cents.
Thanks again.
agree. I reduced the salt a bit after the fist one. Damn delicious recipe though.
Just made and most of my crumble sank It also never truly turned clear despite how long I left it in. Any idea what could have happened?
Wow, you are way over thinking this. Bakers percentages are very commonly used and not at all difficult to understand. No math was harmed or violated in the making of this recipe ;-)
Hi Jess, I've pretty good success baking desserts in a cast iron skillet; they aren't just for cooking a chicken. Give it a try.
I love love love ChefSteps, but one rule i have tought myself - unless it's something where the salty taste is absolutely significant, always divide the salt with 2.
Actually it's a bit of a loving joke at home if the food i serve is marvelous, but too salty - people asks if it's a ChefSteps recipe
I noticed that you are using Quaker Oats and are saying that it is gluten free. That is true but not in the case for those with Celiac Disease, Quaker Oats are not considered "gluten free" because they have been processed on the same equipment as wheat. The best source I have found is Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Oats. They have been processed on a completely different set of equiptment.
I myself have Celiac Disease and find it frustrating sometimes when people say what they have made is gluten free not knowing if the oats are truely gluten free or not.
Love these recipes! Quick question: Any good substitutes for the oats? My wife is allergic.
Precisely what I logged in to say, Quaker Oats are definitely never gluten free and I expect more from ChefSteps.
Additionally, this is NOT a crumble. Call it a streusel topped cobbler or something but do not call it a crumble. A crumble consists of a topping that is butter, flour and sugar(s) made into a crumb. Nuts are permissible but oats are not and lead it down a very different path.
Let's get ready to crumble!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLtxFyxjhYE
Solid recipe. I enjoy what you guys do. Thanks!
Yes! That was my question too; that way you get all ingredients right for whatever amount of fruit you start with - Thank you, CS!
Craig, this looks fantastic! What type of berries did you end up using?
Ridiculously simple, yet doesn't compromise on the flavor. Now one of my go to recipes.
My crumble didn't sink, but my stuff didn't turn clear either. I used about half as much fruit so I think we might have to increase the oven temp(they mention it in another recipe) to get it to behave similarly.
Oats in crumble is pretty common here in New Zealand, and same in Australia as well from my understanding. According to Wikipedia, "To further reduce the use of ... flour, fat and sugar, breadcrumbs or oatmeal could be added to the crumble mix." (with no citation, so don't know how legit that is). To me, fruit crumble consists of any sweet "crumbly" topping on top of cooked fruits. So this might not necessarily count as a legit crumble, but I'll eat the hell out of it when I make a feijoa version later this afternoon!
Sam,
Set the major ingredient, in this case the fruit, to 100g and the rest are in % for you.
Oats are mandatory in a crumble, what you are talking about is a crumb
