My first Apple Crumble is a smash right to the last crumb!

It's amazing how some things that are so easy to make are more often than not, absolutely delicious. Case in point is this version of Apple Crumble. It's not a pie and it's not a cake, just something inbetween. Until Sunday, I had never made this, but decided to take a crack at it without any influence of current recipes but simply with what my taste buds remember of the various crumbles I have had in the past. My only fear was leaving something out that was very important. But I wanted to see if I could put this together blindly. I wanted to put myself in the shoes of someone that had no knowledge or at the least, very green in the art of recipe creation. Well, if I could succeed, any one of you could as well. That was my atitude.

This experiment could turn out in one of two ways, I thought to myself. Either it will be a disaster like my Mom's apple pie that I've mentioned before (please check archives) or come out surprisingly delightful. Well, I'm happy to report that it was wonderful and after Sunday, there was not a crumb left to be had. So if you trust in me, get the following ingredients together and replicate this wonderful dessert in the comfort of your own kitchen. It's very easy to prepare and way too easy to inhale it!

7 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
2 tablespoons of corn starch
2 tablespoons of cinamon
3 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
dash of salt
1/2 cup of heavy whip cream
1/4 cup of Calvados (apple brandy)

For the crumble crust:

2 cups of sifted flour
2 cubes of butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 tablespoons of Calvados (apple brandy)
2 tablelspoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
dash of salt
1/2 cup of cream

Preheat your oven to 375

Start by preparing the crumble crust. Place the sifted flour in a food processor. Add the salt, brown sugar, and sugar, process for about 30 seconds until all dry ingredients are well mixed. Next, take your two cubes of butter and slice into 1/2 inch slices. Add them to the processor. Make sure the butter is very cold, it will make your dough fluffier. Put the butter in the freezer for about 20 minutes to ensure it's very cold. Now process with the pulse button so that butter is well incorporated into the flour, next add the vanilla and Calvados, pulse a few more times. Finally very slowly add the cream while pulsing. Stop adding cream when the dough begins to clump and gets crumbly looking. At this point it's ready. You don't want it too moist because you're going to simply crumble it over the apples. Set this aside so you can start your filling.

Now prepare the apple filling. In a large bowl, add all the liquid ingredients with the apples. Mix well with your hands. Now add all the dry ingredients and mix well with your hands so that all the apple slices are well coated. Transfer this mixture to a well greased (with butter) baking dish approximately 8 x 12.

With your fingers, add the crust mixture to the dish, making sure to crumple it with your fingers and all the apples are covered. Place in the oven for about an hour uncovered. As a final ingredient, which is what I did, take and crumble a couple of Reeser's Crunch Bars, and sprinkle it over your dish about 20 minutes before finished, along with slivered almonds.

When baking is finished, shut oven off and allow dish to sit in the oven for 15 more minutes. Remove and set aside for another 30 minutes. Take some heavy whipping cream and beat it until it thickens but doesn't have peaks. Half way through, add a bit of vanilla and a tablespoon of powdered sugar. With a spoon, pour cream over individual Apple Crumble portions and serve. Enjoy!!