A crumble is not a traditional German or Romanian dessert, so I haven’t had the chance to enjoy it too often. But on those rare occasions when I did (I can count them on one hand), I savored every single spoonful. And what’s there not to like? A juicy melt-in-your-mouth layer of sweet, baked fruits alone is pure bliss to me, but when it gets topped with crunchy crumbles infused with sweet warming spices it becomes a full-fledged, comforting, delicious and satiating dessert. Just perfect as a healthy treat on a chilly day, and you can use any leftovers for a luscious breakfast.
The recipe I’m sharing here combines fragrant quinces with apples. The fruits are delicately flavored with star anise and cardamom, and topped with a crunchy layer of cinnamony hazelnuts and rolled oats. I love quinces in general and they work really well in this dessert. But as they are available only for a short period of time (at least in Germany), you might want to substitute them for other fruits such as pears, stone fruits, or berries, which will work fine too.
| Quinces and Apple Crumble with Hazelnuts and Warming Winter Spices | Print |
- 2-3 quinces (about 500-750 g)
- 300 ml orange juice
- 1 star anise (or 2 if you like a more intense anise flavor)
- 5 green cardamom seeds
- 4 tbsp rice syrup
- 3 big apples (about 750 g)
- 100 g rolled oats
- 100 g hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 50 g coconut sugar
- 4 tbsp rapeseed oil (or any other neutral oil)
- Peel the quinces, divide them into eights, remove the core, and cut them into cubes.
- Pour the orange juice into a pot, and add the star anise, cardamom seeds, rice syrup and cubed quinces. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes (lid on).
- Peel the apples, cut them open, remove the core and cube them. Add the apple cubes to the pot as well and simmer for another 5 minutes. When done, the fruits should be soft but not mashed.
- For the crumble, combine all the ingredients.
- In a baking dish, arrange the cooked fruits and layer the crumbles on top.
- Bake at 160° (fan on) for about 20 minutes, until the hazelnuts turn brown and the spices start to smell sweetly.
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