I know that these couple of weeks in the run-up to Thanksgiving are all about pie. It’s even Pie Week in some parts of the blogosphere this week! And if I had the mini pie pans to put them in or the extra mouths to eat them, I would love to be tearing into all the gorgeous pie recipes that are popping up these days. (See the end of this post for a list of my favorites!) But tragically I have neither, so I hope you’ll forgive me for proposing an alternative Thanksgiving dessert — these teeny-tiny individual apple crumbles. With brown butter in the crumble. And cheddar cheese. You forgive me, right? 🙂
I love brown butter in anything, but especially here, because I found that it added a special depth and nuance to the fall spices in this crumble. On top of that, the savory note from the cheddar cheese is amazing in mellowing out the slight tartness of the apple filling. If you’re surprised by the cheddar — I understand! I’d never had it before in apple pie and almost didn’t get up the courage to add it to my crumble, even though I know it’s tried-and-true in my area of the country. But it was really fantastic. It’s almost indiscernible, but just present enough that you know it’s doing amazing things. Promise. (Plus, some apple pies even use asiago cheese, and some suggest the sharper the better! Now mild cheddar seems positively boring, doesn’t it.)
I love the idea of these as an easy, hassle-free single-serving dessert for a smaller Thanksgiving dinner. Of course, you all know that I’m super into desserts for two (like here, and here … and here), but this one has got to be one of my favorites. (Is declaring something on your blog as your favorite thing that you’ve made like publicly declaring a favorite child? Part of me feels like it might be. But I only said “one of”! I feel like that’s legit.)
Anyway, this is seriously delicious — I don’t think you’ll regret it if you try it. Plus, this only makes two teeny individual crumbles, so even if you don’t like it, you only lost one apple, right?! Clearly I’m not much of a salesperson.
Individual Brown Butter Apple Crumbles (with Cheddar!) for Two
yields two half-cup servings.
1 apple, diced (I didn’t peel them — you can, if you like, but they are diced so small to fit into the ramekins that I didn’t find that the peel made a difference. Three cheers for fiber.)
1 tbsp unsalted butter (for browning)
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp white sugar
2 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tbsp old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (up to 1 tsp if you love cinnamon like I do)
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
small pinch salt
1 tbsp unsalted butter, cold and diced
2-4 tbsp grated cheddar (optional but awesome)
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a small saucepan, heat butter until melted, then continue to cook, stirring constantly, until butter has turned a dark brown, nearly black hue. This is darker than traditional brown butter, according to Adrianna Adarme’s recommendation at A Cozy Kitchen. She rocks, I believe her. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugars, flour, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine about a tablespoon of this flour mixture with the diced apple. Pour about half the brown butter over the apple mixture and toss to coat. Divide the apple evenly between two 4-ounce or 6-ounce porcelain ramekins. You can fill it up quite tall — the apples will shrink as they cook.
3. To the original bowl with the flour mixture, add the cold (not brown) butter and work the mixture together with your fingers until it is crumbly and forms clumps the size of peas. Pour in the remaining brown butter and mix again until thoroughly distributed. It should be the consistency of wet sand, and should clump together if you squeeze. If using, mix in the cheddar cheese. Sprinkle the topping (or, in my case, pile precariously) over the two ramekins. Again, it’s fine if they’re tiny mountains — they’ll shrink a surprising amount.
4. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the top is crisp and dark brown, and the juices from the apples are bubbling at the edges. For topping that is slightly less crunchy, cover the tops of the ramekins with foil while baking. Serve warm or room temperature, with Greek yogurt or vanilla ice cream. And if you really love the cheddar, feel free to melt extra into the crumble as you eat it! 🙂
And lastly, you know, if you’re just really attached to the idea of pie on Thanksgiving — I can’t blame you if you are! — I think this would work perfectly, too, as a filling for miniature apple pie tarts with crumble topping. I’m also sure that this would work if you tripled or quadrupled the recipe and made a full-size apple pie out of it. There’s no leavener or egg, so you won’t run into any problems proportion-wise by scaling it up. For a fantastic pie crust recipe, check out the crust I used in these pear galettes using a phenomenal and foolproof (obviously, since I made it) pie crust recipe from Courtney at Neighborfood.
Otherwise, check out a few of these fantastic-looking pie recipes below. And tell me how they are, because I’d love to try them!
- These impeccable miniature pie tarts by Jennifer at Savory Simple. I need them in my life.
- All of the pies in this slideshow by Gourmet Magazine, but especially the caramel pumpkin pie and the maple buttermilk.
- Speaking of buttermilk pies, this chamomile buttermilk pie by Adrianna at A Cozy Kitchen also sounds divine.
- And speaking of pumpkin pie, this classed-up bourbon pumpkin pie with walnut crumble by Nancy at Gotta Get Baked.
- This sky-high apple toffee pie by Une Gamine dans la Cuisine.
- This salted honey pie by The Baker Chick, or this wonderfully unique rose and salted honey pie by Adventures in Cooking.
Oh, and lastly — I just moved to a self-hosted WordPress blog this past week (!) and redid my layout! I’m still working through the kinks, so I apologize for any random mishaps you may encounter when viewing my blog in the coming weeks. For anyone who has gone through this process, I’d love to hear your experience and your thoughts! And more generally, I’d always love to hear anything you think I should change or improve about my blog in general.
Hope that you like the new look, and thanks for sticking with me through this new phase of my blog! I’m sad to (partially) leave the wonderful WP community, but hopefully I’ll still be able to stick around in this new form. (I don’t really get this WP.org and WP.com linking thing, so… yes, I hope I can! Slash am!)
{Main St. Cuisine}
First, congratulations on the big move! I have yet to do it (new stuff scares me), but I am encouraged when I see fellow bloggers make the WP.org leap. Your layout is gorgeous and I suspect your following will continue to grow and grow.
I love these ramekins filled with all sorts of apple goodness. There is something so special about serving individual deserts like these (versus hacking into one large pie & leaving part of the crust in the pie plate). Thank you for the inspiration and the recipe!
Have a good week!
Allison
tworedbowls
Aww, I am so glad to hear that from you, both about the desserts and the layout! Thanks for being so wonderfully encouraging. I was pretty nervous about making the leap myself but I figured I had to do it sooner or later. I’m sad to leave the WP.com party! By the way, out of curiosity, how did you see this post? I assume I don’t show up on the WP Reader anymore, but I have no idea how any of this works, really… so just curious!
Thank you SO much for your lovely comment, Allison. Hope you have a great week yourself. 🙂
{Main St. Cuisine}
Yes, you did show up in my reader! You can’t “like” a post and I was not able to comment from there, but just had to click through to get to your site so I could finish reading and then post a comment. Other blogging friends who’ve gone to self hosted continue to show up in my reader, which is wonderful & makes it easy to stay in touch.
A question…did you have one of the “happiness engineers” transfer your blog? This is one of the things that scares me a little (because of my technology inadequacies).
Thanks for the info and best wishes for continued success!
tworedbowls
Oooh, I got it. Yay, that’s wonderful! Like you said, I’m so happy I can continue to stay in touch that way.
You know, I’m kind of embarrassed to admit it, but I did have them do it for me! I just don’t have the time lately with work to devote to figuring all that out (especially when I’m not tech-savvy and could very well mess something up and create lots of extra work for myself). I’d recommend doing it 🙂 It was worth how painless the process was! Thank YOU for keeping in touch and for your lovely comments!!
Sara Kim
Are you trying to kill me?? This looks amaaaaazing.
And ah, congratulations on the move! You must let me know how it is — I have big changes in mind for my blog (I know, I know, agaaain) but I’m still feeling it out for now 🙂 But the layout looks great! And, of course, I want to eat everything on the blog. Good Lord.
tworedbowls
Hahaha, thank you so much, Sara! I thought of you and your wonderfully designed blog when I was blundering around in CSS this weekend. We should definitely talk (aka you should teach me your ways since I know absolutely NOTHING. It took me like three hours just to figure out how to import Google fonts.) I like it so far but I’ll keep you posted! And we still need to get together one of these days!
Sara
Yeees! To everything that was just said, haha. And I herp derp my way around coding most of the time, too, but I am totally down for blogging days — I find that I’m more productive when I’m doing blog things with someone else…
And yes, let’s please grab coffee (or I can just sit in your kitchen and eat things, that’s cool too) soon!
Nancy @ gottagetbaked
Yay for going self-hosted! Way to go, Cynthia! I haven’t worked up the nerve to do it but I’m hoping to in 2014. It looks fabulous! Even more fabulous though are these individual sized crumbles. I absolutely love your recipes for two (simply because I always baked giant pies ‘n cakes and end up eating them all myself!). I know that cheddar + apple is a classic combo but I’ve never eaten them together before. You’ve sold me on this crumble – I need to try it for myself! And a huge thanks for including my pie in your round up. I’m super flattered!
tworedbowls
Awww, thank you so much, Nancy! I really wasn’t sure about whether I had the nerve either, and was second-guessing myself the whole way, but I really enjoy it so far. If I can do it, you definitely can. Your blog is beyond fabulous (so of course I had to link to your gorgeous pie!). Definitely let me know what you think if you try this crumble!
Courtney @ Neighborfood
Congrats on the move! I know it can be totally overwhelming. I moved from Blogger to Self Hosted WordPress and it was little nightmarish, but SO worth it! I’m sure you’ll continue to grow and love your new “home”! Also? I’d totally take a crumble over a pie any day. But don’t tell pies I said so. 😉
tworedbowls
It’ll be our little secret! 🙂 Yes, moving was definitely scary, but so far I’m so glad I did it. It’s a little unsettling not to have the structure of WP.com to be a safety net for views and such, but like you said, this does feel like a new home, and an opportunity to change and improve — so I’m so happy I made the decision. It’s encouraging to know that you thought so too! Thanks so much for commenting, Courtney!
Pamela @ Brooklyn Farm Girl
I welcome cheddar at any minute so this recipe has me extremely happy! Looks AMAZING!
tworedbowls
So do I girl!!! Sounds like we have a lot in common. Thanks so much! 🙂
Johnnysenough Hepburn
Isn’t it funny that I’ve never heard of Cheddar being used in a crumble before. Yet, it’s a Northern English cheese! Well, I’m neither Northern nor English. That aside. Of course! Cheese and fruit always taste so good together. Still, the idea of Cheddar in one of my crumbles…
As for brown butter, unfortunately I can’t stand the smell of it!
Loving the new look, particularly the ‘Find me on …’ section. Where did you find that?? Oh, must look out for you on Flickr!
tworedbowls
Haha, I felt the same way! I love fruit and cheese together, and yet the moment when I was holding a handful of cheese over my crumble topping, I almost couldn’t go for it! 🙂 But it really worked, I thought. Ooh, and I can definitely understand being put off by the smell of brown butter. It was so unusual the first time I tried it.
Thanks so much, Johnny!! I actually just did those banners on Picmonkey.com with some random filters and overlays and such… Very easy, I promise! 🙂 But so happy you liked it, and yes! Let’s be Flickr friends!!
Food to Fitness
Looks delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
tworedbowls
Thank you so much! Hope you like it if you try it!
URBAN BAKES
OMG I thought I noticed something different about your blog! I skimmed through it quickly the other day and now when I passed by I just thought to myself, “wow I think she changed something here” And there you go, you just confirmed it. Did you convert on your own or did you hire someone? I’m converting within the next few weeks myself as a birthday gift 🙂 Pardon my rush to ask. I’m just excited for you that you made the big switch and I completely understand the confusion. Going through that process right now.
And as far as the forgiveness for not showing us a pie…I forgive you lol. I’m sure we’re going to see plenty of pies this week! So I appreciate your apple cheddar crumble 🙂
tworedbowls
Hahaha, phew! I feel very black sheep this week 🙂 and I wish I was baking pies! So I’m glad this crumble is still getting some love.
And I’m so happy you noticed the layout! It’s very possible you came by when I was tinkering with it and it may have looked a bit haphazard at that point, so it makes total sense that you weren’t sure. (In fact, I’m glad you weren’t, the site was definitely struggling for a few hours!) I’m kind of embarrassed to admit I splurged on this, but I did just buy the self-guided transfer that WP offers! The tutorials I looked at seemed simple enough (or…at least possible), but with work I just don’t have time lately to devote to it, especially when I’m definitely not tech-savvy to begin with, and could very well create even more work for myself by messing something up. The WP Happiness Engineers were absolutely fantastic and took care of it for me in less than a day. I think it would be an awesome birthday gift to yourself! I guess it’s an early Christmas gift for me. 🙂
Blanca Oliver
Hi! thank you for this, I made it tonight and it’s great! But I forgot to add the cheddar in the end, and now that I re-read the recipe I can’t figure out when or how I was supposed to add it… Did I miss something?!?
tworedbowls
Oh my GOODNESS, I’m so sorry!!!! No, you most definitely did not miss something! When I made these I added the cheddar last minute on a whim, and turns out I forgot to update the recipe with it other than in the ingredients list. I am so sorry about this! It’s edited now — you can really put in the cheddar at any time you like (on top after the oat topping, or mixed into the dry ingredients, or just sifted in after you cut in the cold butter). I even added more after baking and just let it melt into the crumble as I ate. I am SO sorry, Bianca — I hope you still enjoyed it!
Blanca Oliver
It was great, no worries!
Since I had no Greek yogurt or vanilla ice cream at hand, I topped each with a generous tablespoon of double cream and some cinnamon sugar. Yummy…
But now I know for next time when to add the cheese 🙂
tworedbowls
Oooh, genius. I love it. So glad you still liked it! 🙂 And hope you like it with the cheese, too!
Cate @ Chez CateyLou
These look delicious! That crumbly topping, and the savory cheese, mmmm. I love the idea of a small serving – I made an apple pie this weekend and feel like my husband and I have been eating it for days!
tworedbowls
Hahaha, that’s how I feel whenever I make full batches of things, too! I’ve also started freezing doughs and things, which helps, but these kinds of mini recipes are still my favorite way to bake for two. Thanks so much for your comment, Cate! 🙂
Ada ~ More Food, Please
This looks so delicious and your photos look gorgeous! I am definitely surprised by the use of cheddar cheese, but now I have to try it out! Thanks for sharing 😀
tworedbowls
Ooh, hope you like it if you do! Thanks so much for your comment, Ada. 🙂
tinywhitecottage
This is a wonderful crumble. I’m going to copy you and make it for sure. Especially like the cheddar in the recipe as well as the portion size. I adore your new look. Your “like” showed up on my post and it appeared I was not “following” you so I clicked on and sure enough! Changed. I clicked “follow” again so hopefully I’m in.
tworedbowls
Haha yes!!! Please do! In my opinion, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery 😉 I hope you like it if you try it out. And I’m so touched you went out of your way to re-follow me! Having just moved from WP.com to self-hosted, I’m not sure what technical changes are going to happen to my blog, especially in terms of who was following me before. So happy that you’re still around, and that you like the new layout!! Thanks for your wonderful comment. 🙂
Colleen
Oh my gosh….apples and cheddar are just divine, but adding browned butter? Over the top! This just looks soooo delicious!
I love the new layout. It looks really nice! And I’ve nominated you for the Liebster award!
tworedbowls
Hahaha, I was wondering if I was going overboard!! But with these, the answer is too much of a good thing is just an even better thing.. Lol.
Thank you so much for the compliment! It was a long time coming, and I do think I’d like to change it up a bit more in the future. but I’m excited about it for now. And THANK YOU so much for the award! I am SO flattered!!! :):)