You need to make this copycat recipe for Humble Crumble that we had when we were in London last month. It occurred to me that maybe I’m making too much of this, but it’s so good! Yes, it’s basically an apple crumble, but as Madeline described it best, it’s a deconstructed apple crumble, which is what makes it so interesting and delicious!
We discovered it while in London. Humble Crumble has two shops and they call themselves the first crumble bar. They started out selling at a farmer’s market stall to test the market. It caught on so quickly that they opened two shops in two very popular food halls in London. Borough Hall and Old Spitalfields Market. They only sell crumble and the lines are long but so worth it!
Why crumble?
Crumble is Britain’s favorite dessert! It warms people up like ice cream cools people down. Brits love their crumble and so they made it a year-round dessert by topping it with frozen custard.
Okay, so we are not adding frozen custard, but here in the United States, we like our crumble in the fall, the spring, and especially in the summer with stone fruit. And as wonderful as frozen custard sounds, the warm créme Anglaise is simply too wonderful to substitute for anything else, in my opinion!
So what is the crumble exactly?
When I first started exploring the idea I thought for the crumble I might just buy a box of shortbread and crumble it up. But upon further investigation, I discovered that it’s twice-baked shortbread. Who knew that was a thing? Well, it is and it is out of this world delicious. You can read the post here where I made it, but basically, you make shortbread, bake it, cut it into pieces and bake it again. Baking it twice gives it a warm nutty taste and is a little less sweet, balancing the other things going on in Humble Crumble.
What ingredients will I need to make this amazing Humble Crumble?
For the Apple Filling:
apples (I used two kinds, Granny Smith and Honeycrisp)
Sugar
brown sugar
corn starch
cinnamon
For the Toppings:
Twice Baked Shortbread (Recipe here)
Store-bought meringue cookies
Dried Culinary Rose Petals
Chocolate Chips
For the Crème Anglaise:
whole milk
heavy cream
vanilla
egg yolks
sugar
Can I substitute other kinds of fruit in Humble Crumble?
Yes, make this with apples and rhubarb, peaches or any seasonal fruit like you would use in a traditional crumble.
How to serve Humble Crumble at a Dinner Party
We tested this out for Madeline and her boyfriend and so we used small servings. This could be made on a much larger scale to have your own crumble bar for a much larger dinner party.
We used latte bowls in pink inspired by London’s Humble Crumble shops and added a few scoops of the cooked apples and then everyone added what they wanted as toppings.
We had small jars of twice-baked shortbread, meringue cookies, dried rose petals, chocolate chips, and a pitcher for the créme Anglaise. We set everything on a galvanized tray from Terrain. For a larger party, I would use several trays and larger jars of toppings. This is a totally customizable dessert that can be made ahead for a party of 4 of 44! And everyone would be talking about it for days!
You need to make this copycat recipe for Humble Crumble!
Humble Crumble Served in Pink Latte Bowls Inspired by the pink cups at the London crumble shops!
Add the peeled, cored, and diced apples to a heavy pot and add the sugars, cinnamon, pinch of salt, and corn starch and cook until the apples are tender.
For the Créme Anglais:
Combine milk and cream in a heavy medium saucepan. Add vanilla and bring milk mixture to simmer. Remove from heat.
Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a medium bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in the hot milk mixture into the yolk mixture. Return to saucepan and stir over low heat until custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon. It takes about 5 minutes (do not boil). Strain sauce into a bowl. Cover and chill. (Can be made 1 day ahead.)
Notes
Can be made with any fruit that you would typically use in a crumble.
Shop the Post
Read more about our quick trip to London in this post!
You can also enjoy crumble ready to bake at home: each 'crumble bundle' comes with your choice of fruit base, twice-baked shortbread crumble (either traditional or vegan) and a healthy dose of vanilla custard (made using high-grade Indonesian planifolia vanilla beans), clotted vanilla ice cream, or extra thick double ...
It is expensive, but worth it. The only negative is that the stall was situated near the public toilets at Borough Market, so it was unpleasant whilst queuing up! We walked from Tower bridge to Borough Market just to come try Humble crumble and it did not disappoint.
After questioning why there were no restaurants specifically devoted to the British nostalgic dessert of crumble, London-based Kim Innes decided to open her own.
A crumble is just a crisp without oats in the streusel. It may feature nuts, but the streusel topping is usually a simple combination of butter, flour, and sugar that is more clumpy than that of a crisp. Favorite Crumble Recipes: The Ultimate Berry Crumble.
Humble Crumble by Humble Juice Co. is a delightful juice blend of sweetened blueberries, honey-touched graham crackers, and a dash of cinnamon to round out the delectable recipe for a perfect blueberry crumble, fresh out the oven.
The whole dessert can be assembled very quickly and cooked in the oven while the main course is being eaten. Crumbles are best served hot or warm. Serve with good cream or ice-cream or a good custard. Leftovers reheat well in the microwave.
The special dessert gleaned viral attention following an Instagram post from Time Out, and then a TikTok video from a customer. Although London was in a lockdown, the queues simply wouldn't surrender for Humble Crumble, and the ever-growing demand for the perfect British grab-and-go crumble continues.
We can occasionally do office pop-ups close to our locations. For the London Bridge area, please email boroughmarket@humble-crumble.com and for Spitalfields, please email oldspitalfieldsmarket@humble-crumble.com. Are you franchising? No.
The World's First Dedicated Crumble Bakery. So, not long afterwards Kim decided to see if people would buy crumbles from a crumble bakery. She pitched up in a farmers market with fruit, toppings and her special recipe vanilla custard and Humble Crumble was born.
A crumble is typically a dessert with a crumbly topping consisting of flour, butter, sugar, and sometimes oats, baked over a fruit filling. Apple and rhubarb are two popular varieties. Savoury fillings such as meat, cheese or vegetables may alternatively be used.
Apple Crumble also makes a great breakfast. Either you can microwave it, which is our usual method, or you can cover with foil and reheat at 350°f / 180°c in the oven until warmed through. Usually we tend to just warm up individual servings as needed though in the microwave. Apple crumble is also amazing cold!
Apple crisp is a dessert made with a streusel topping. In the US, it is also called apple crumble, a word which refers to a different dessert in the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Ingredients usually include cooked apples, butter, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and often oats and brown sugar, ginger, and/or nutmeg.
An umble pie is a pie filled with chopped or minced offal, especially of deer but often other meats, called umbles in Middle English, which derived from the word numble (after the Middle French nombles), meaning "deer's innards".
Toss the fruit with sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch, and any spices in a large bowl. Use more sugar and less lemon juice when cooking with tart fruits, like rhubarb and blackberries, and less sugar but more lemon juice for sweet fruits, like peaches and plums. Best is to taste a piece of fruit and adjust to taste.
The World's First Dedicated Crumble Bakery. So, not long afterwards Kim decided to see if people would buy crumbles from a crumble bakery. She pitched up in a farmers market with fruit, toppings and her special recipe vanilla custard and Humble Crumble was born.
Introduction: My name is Fr. Dewey Fisher, I am a powerful, open, faithful, combative, spotless, faithful, fair person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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