Apples are bang in season in September and these apple crumble cookies are irresistible. This is a suggested recipe and is not compulsory to follow. Exhibitors are free to follow their own recipe.

Ingredients

For the cookies

  • 250g Plain flour
  • 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
  • 1½ tsp Cornflour
  • ¼ tsp Salt
  • 170g Melted butter
  • 250g Light brown sugar
  • 1 Large egg
  • 2 tsp Vanilla extract

For the topping

  • 2 Cooking apples
  • 1 tsp Lemon juice
  • 100g Light brown sugar
  • 50g Chilled butter (cut into cubes)
  • 70g Plain flour
  • 25g Porridge oats
  • 50g Demerara sugar

Preparation Method

  1. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cornflour and salt in a bowl. In another bowl mix the melted butter with the sugar until the sugar has dissolved, then add the egg and vanilla extract and mix it all together. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and mix together to form a dough.
  2. Roll the dough into a sausage about 4cm in diameter. Wrap it in cling film and put in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
  3. Whilst the dough is in the fridge, peel the apples and chop them into small cubes. Mix the cubes with the lemon juice to prevent them from going brown and stir in the light brown sugar. Leave it to one side which will draw some of the moisture out of the apples.
  4. In another bowl place the butter and flour for the topping. Rub the flour and butter together with your fingertips until you have a rough breadcrumb like mixture. Mix in the porridge oats and the demerara sugar and place in a thin layer on a baking sheet.
  5. Pre-heat the oven to 180℃, 160℃ fan, gas mark 4. Take the cookie dough out of the fridge and slice into 20 rounds. Flatten them between your hands a little and then place them onto two baking trays lined with parchment paper. Make sure there’s at least 3 cm between each cookie as they will spread out during cooking. Spoon the apple cubes into a heap on top of each of the cookies. Get rid of the juice that has been drawn out of the apples.
  6. Put the cookies into the oven on two racks and cook for 11 minutes – swap the trays over half way through cooking to ensure even cooking of the cookies. Remove the cookies from the baking trays whilst s still warm (they could stick otherwise) and cool on a wire rack.
  7. Put the crumble mixture into the oven for 10 minutes, then turn the heat up to 210℃, 190℃ fan, gas mark 5 and cook for a further 7-8 minutes. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t burn! When it is cooked, sprinkle it over the cookies and serve or store ready for the show!