Baking | Apple, Oats and Walnut Skillet Crumble … warm, fun and gluten free comfort food

“It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man.”
Henry David Thoreau

Apple, Oats and Walnut Skillet Crumble … true comfort food and ever so simple. It’s one I make often, a crumble I mean. This year began in a special way. I had a surprise visitor and she brought me something I have longed for forever! A cast iron skillet, straight from the kiln, well almost, unseasoned and raw!

Thankfully Sangeeta has a world of knowledge about this stuff. This looked raw, rustic and a little scary to tell you the truth. Man Friday was happy as ever to see it and went on to tell me how much cast iron was cooked in when he was young, and that the benefits are tremendous. How times have changed, and healthy practices have been buried under the sands of time!

Well he scrubbed it well with a piece of brick, removed the dusty coating etc. I dried it well, seasoned it with some cold pressed mustard oil. Then baked it in a hot oven for 30 minutes. It came out looking moorish. Can you fall in love with a skillet? I did! The great thing about cast iron utensils are that they can go from the stove top into the oven, and back again! The other huge benefit of course is that they gently seep iron into your food adding additional iron into your diet.

I was quite over the moon this morning and since I had just apples on hand, I set out to make an Apple, Oats and Walnut Skillet Crumble. { …for those who noticed, I meant to use thyme, but sans glasses, I think I used oregano from the fridge instead! Oops! }. Simple, basic, easy apple pie, something that comforts and warms, especially in these cold winter days. Baking it in the skillet took this up a few notches for me. I loved using the skillet, built an emotional connect with it, and want to use it all the time. 

Past the crumble, I grilled a cheese and tomato sandwich for the daughter in it . Crisp, beautiful, comforting! Fried eggs and roasted tomatoes too. I can’t get enough of it. You’ll see a lot more of it popping up all over the place. Thank you Sangeeta, and thank you too for the coloured glasses! It’s been an inspiring beginning to the new year!

[print_this]Recipe: Apple, Oats and Walnut Skillet Crumble 

Summary:  Simple, basic, easy apple pie, something that comforts and warms, especially in these cold winter days. Baking it in the skillet takes it up a few rustic notches! Enjoy this gluten free version of the Apple, Oats and Walnut Skillet Crumble .

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:

• Apple filling
• 450g apples, cored, peeled, diced
• juice of 1 lime
• 20g brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder 30g walnuts
• 25g craisins
• 15g rolled oats
• 15g butter
• 15g brown sugar
• Few sprigs of thyme, leaves only
• Topping
• 25g oat flour
• 40g unsalted butter
• 25g walnuts
• 30g rolled oats
• 15g brown sugar

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Lightly grease a 6-7″ round pie dish, or use a 6″ skillet.
2. In a large bowl toss the apples in lime juice. Then add 20g brown sugar, cinnamon powder, walnuts, craisins, rolled oats and thyme leaves if using.
3. Mix well. Reserve.
4. Heat 15g unsalted butter in the skillet over low heat. Add 15g brown sugar and allow to bubble and dissolve. Mix well to cover bottom of skillet.
5. Turn the apple mix into the skillet, and mix well to combine. Take off heat.
6. Push into place gently, top with crumble, press firmly.
7. Bake at 180C for 25-30 minutes.
8. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and or warm salted butter caramel sauce.

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