Even when living frugally you still need some treats – but rather than buying or making extravagant meals, sometimes the humble apple crumble is enough to satisfy your cravings.
I will generally buy apples or pears that cost $3.50/kg or less – and these Cox Oranges were a steal at $1.99/kg!
Peel, core and dice your apples and stew them away. I don’t add any sugar as they have plenty of natural sugars anyway and I like to be able to divide some out for child-friendly meals. You can stew them in a stock pot, but I prefer to leave them going on low in my slow cooker as I don’t have to stand by.
Once it’s cooked, strain it out (a little liquid is fine, but you don’t want it swimming in there! And if you feel so inclined dust the top with brown sugar. I use fair trade Muscovado sugar, available at Trade Aid here or some selected supermarkets (ask them to stock it and they might!!) It has a really rich flavour and you don’t need a lot!
Then make up your crumble topping – there are various out there, some bulked up with oats, but I use the trusty Edmonds Cookbook recipe (it’s found under “Fruit Crumble”)which is basically flour, butter and sugar rubbed together until it forms crumbs.
Bake at about 180-200 C until it starts to brown and here you go!!
We were gluttonous and ate this in quarters, but you could easily split it up into 6 or 8 serves. The entire thing probably cost less than $5 to make so it’s really not expensive 🙂
As an added bonus, look at this beautiful water that I stewed the apples in. That’s pure Cox Orange magic, no additives – and a tasty little treat for my little one.
I can’t get over that colour. It makes my rhubarb look bleached! Here they are being stored in the fridge in some Tupperware ClearMates – they’re handy little containers, and are watertight so no worries about spilling!!
To see more frugal recipes try here for my Frugal Stew ($1.38 per serve!) and here for Frugal Soup (less than $1 per serve).
For Tupperware tips or inquiries including party bookings contact me here.
