Gluten Free Swedish Apple Crumble

It’s the time of year that apples are in prime season, and warm desserts start looking very tempting. I picked up some nice fresh cooking apples, and had been plotting some good things to do with them. There are so many appealing options!

I had already been considering turning some of them into a crumble or crisp. It’s so easy and delicious. Smulpaj (“crumb pie”, where “paj” is actually an old borrowing from English and pronounced the same way) is a very popular genre of dessert here anyway, so it occurred to me to try something a little different this time around, and just work off a Swedish recipe.

The one I settled on comes from Glutenfria Godsaker (“Gluten Free Goodies”). Everything I have tried from there so far has turned out great. The original recipe: Glutenfri äppelpaj med smuldeg. For a change, I didn’t even make any tweaks beyond using more apples than she called for because these particular apples were on the small side. (Mine worked out to 12 fruits in a 1kg bag, so I went with half of them for around 500g or 1 lb.)

The ingredients for this one really couldn’t be simpler. And the results turned out absolutely scrumptious!

The proportion of sugar called for here will give you a sweeter crumb topping than I would generally go for myself. If you’d prefer it a little less sweet, feel free to reduce the amount of sugar a little. Next time I will probably cut it back by maybe 25% to my taste. But, everyone’s is different, and this was wonderful as-is.

Gluten Free Swedish Apple Crumble

A Swedish take on one warming classic cool weather dessert. Fresh juicy apples are seasoned with cinnamon, topped with a gluten free oat crumb topping, and baked until golden and bubbly.

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Course: Baking, Dessert

Cuisine: Swedish

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 500 g cooking apples (Just around a pound)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Crumb Dough

• 250 ml certified gluten free rolled oats (1 cup, or 100g)
• 225 ml gluten free flour blend (scant 1 cup, or 135g of what the original recipe writer used)
• 200 ml granulated white sugar (¾ cup, or 180g)
• 150 g cold butter (10 tbsp is close enough) cut into small chunks

Method

 

1. Start the oven preheating to 200℃ / 400℉.
2. Generously butter a large deep pie dish, or 8"x8" / 20cmx20cm baking dish.

   This recipe could easily be doubled to fill a 9"x13" / 23cmx33cm pan, though you may also need to increase the baking time a little.
3. Peel, core, and slice the apples.
4. In a mixing bowl, place your dry dough ingredients and stir well to combine. Work the butter chunks through to make a crumbly mixture.

   I started out trying to cut the butter in with a fork, but soon got my hands in there.
   
5. Lay the apples into the buttered dish, and sprinkle the cinnamon over top.
6. Add the crumb topping.
   
7. Bake for around 20-30 minutes, or until browned on top and bubbling up around the edges. The smell will be amazing toward the end.

   Mine went for 25 minutes in this pan and oven, and possibly could have gone a few minutes longer for more browning. Using all white sugar here, though, it won't get as dark.
   
8. Let rest for 15 minutes, then serve warm with some vanilla ice cream or the classic here: vaniljsås, or vanilla custard.