Mary Berry Adds 1 Secret Ingredient For The Best Apple Crumble

It makes the topping's texture very... different.
Kimberley Coole via Getty Images

It makes sense that former Great British Bake Off judge Mary Berry has some pretty impressive baking tips up her sleeve.

She’s shared the best way to make your Yorkies tall and fluffy, as well as the best way to make your rocky road stand out.

As we settle into autumn, I’ve had my eye out for a decent apple crumble recipe for a while now, so naturally I looked up what the Cordon Bleu-trained chef has to say.

As it turns out, her recipe is pretty unorthodox (but who am I to deny the baking prowess of the TV legend?).

Mary Berry’s crumble contains nuts and seeds

The “exceptional crunch” of Mary’s crumble comes from its topping, which is cooked separately from the filling.

It uses flour, oats, light muscovado sugar, walnuts, butter, and ― a new one for me ― sunflower seeds.

Rather than simply mixing the topping in a bowl and then plopping it on top of the stewed fruit, she spreads it evenly on a baking tray and then bakes it for 20 minutes until it’s golden brown.

She doesn’t follow up by placing the toasted topping on the apples and then baking the lot, either.

Instead, she simply breaks up the crumble mix and sprinkles it over the hot fruit.

As a lover of the deliciously stodgy, slightly soggy “between layer” at the base of crumble toppings, I can’t say this sounds like my dream crumble (in fact after finding out how it was made, I said “Babe, that’s a parfait without the yoghurt”).

Still, it’s earned a five-star average rating from bakers on the BBC’s site, so I suppose I need to pipe down.

Anything else?

Yes ― she doesn’t stew the apples on the hob, instead opting to peel, core and finely slice them before chucking them in the oven with a bit of water, sugar and lemon juice.

Even I have to concede that the recipe is far speedier than usual crumbles, taking roughly 30 minutes to cook both the apples and the topping and next to no time to sprinkle the glorified granola crumble on top.

If you hate thick, dense crumble toppings and slightly stodgy desserts, this is definitely the recipe for you.

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