There are few dishes as homely as a freshly baked apple pie, served warm with thick cream. It smells buttery, yet fragrant with cinnamon,  the fruitiness of fresh apples filling the air.

I’ve always struggled to find an easy recipe for a hearty apple crumble, untill I once saw “The Hairy Bikers” on BBC Lifestyle cooking up a really rustic version of this classic pie. I wasn’t taking notes, but the recipe below was definitely inspired by them. The apples are not pre-cooked, but goes into the dish raw and diced, then they’re covered with a knob of butter, a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar and a few drops of lemon juice (no separate sauce necessary). On top goes a rough mixture of flour, butter and sugar (rubbed in with your fingers). Bake it in a medium hot oven, and serve warm with cream or ice cream. It simply cannot be any easier than this. And with Winter creeping closer, this will definitely be a firm favourite on rainy evenings in my house.

Easiest Apple Pie:

Ingredients:

• 4 green apples, preferable Granny Smith (skinned, cored and diced)
• 4 t cinnamon sugar (the same mixture you would use for pancakes)
• 4 t butter
• 4 t lemon juice
• 1 cup flour
• 60 g (1/4 cup) butter, cut into small cubes
• 60 g (1/4 cup) sugar

Method:

1. Using 4 individual oven-proof serving bowls, arrange diced apple pieces in each dish (or use 1 large pie dish). The pieces should not be in a single layer, but rather in a rustic “heap”.
2. Top each bowl with 1 T of cinnamon sugar, then top each with 1 t of butter and sprinkle each with 1 t lemon juice. To make the crumble, add the flour, cubed butter and sugar to a mixing bowl.
3. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour and sugar until it resembles breadcrumbs.
4. Distribute the crumble mixture evenly over the apples, covering all 4 bowls (the mixture will look quite floury, but don’t worry – the floury bits will fall inbetween the apple pieces, creating a lovely thick sauce, while the thicker crumble pieces will crisp up on top).
5. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 C for 30 minutes, then turn up the heat to 200 C for 15 minutes until golden and bubbly. Remove from oven and serve warm with cream.

Download recipe card here