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This Plum and Apple Crumble recipe is the perfect late-summer or fall dessert. Easy to make and topped with the most delicious butter streusel! Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, custard or whipped cream and enjoy!
Reasons To Love This Crumble Recipe
If you love simple fruit-based desserts as much as I do, then this recipe is for you!
- Perfect for late summer and fall: This is a fantastic dessert to make when both apples and plums are in season.
- Delicious comfort food: This cozy warm fruit dessert features plums and apples topped with a super yummy cookie-like streusel topping. Your home will smell absolutely delicious when this comes out of the oven. Serve with a scoop of ice cream, custard, vanilla sauce, whipped cream or simply enjoy as is! Sometimes I also like to enjoy leftovers for breakfast with a scoop of yogurt on top.
- Easy dessert idea: When it comes to baking, I prefer easy-to-make and this apple and plum crumble is just that! You simply need to chop some fruit and make a simple streusel topping. Nothing fussy or complicated here!
Ingredients You’ll Need
To make this plum and apple crumble recipe, you will need…
- Fruit Mixture: A combination of chopped up apples and plums tossed with some sugar, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg. Any type of apples and plums that you like are fine.
- Streusel Crumble Topping: This is a more traditional crumble topping without oats. It is a simple mixture of flour, sugar, butter, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.
Detailed ingredient list and directions located in the recipe card below.
How To Make Plum And Apple Crumble
Let’s get started! I love how easy it is to make crumbles. The hardest part is chopping up the fruit.
STEP 1: Prepare fruit mixture. In a large mixing bowl, gently stir together the fruit mixture ingredients and set aside.
STEP 2: Make the streusel (crumble topping). In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Add the softened butter and vanilla extract. Beat until it forms a crumbly mixture with large crumbles. At first it will turn into a dry “sandy” looking mixture and you might question what you did wrong. No worries! Just continue beating longer until it comes together and forms large crumbs. You want big beautiful crumbs vs a topping that is fine.
Alternatively, make the streusel by hand. Whisk together the flour, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Drop in pieces of the softened butter and use your hands to press and pinch the butter into the flour mixture to form large crumbles.
Large crumbs! This crumble topping is more of a German butter streusel. It’s cookie-like with bigger clumps. The crumble should not be fine. Press any small crumbs together with your fingers to form larger pieces.
STEP 3: Time to assemble. Pour the fruit mixture into a lightly greased 9-inch baking dish (or similar capacity) and spread out evenly. I’m using this 7.5″ x 10.5″ baking dish – the larger one in the 2-piece set linked. Then sprinkle the streusel (crumble mixture) evenly over the top.
STEP 4: Bake. Bake in a 375F / 190C oven for 35-40 minutes or until the fruit mixture is tender and bubbly and the topping is lightly golden brown. Remove from oven and rest for 5-10 minutes before serving. The resting period allows the fruit mixture to thicken up.
STEP 5: Serve and enjoy! Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, custard, yogurt, vanilla sauce, whipped cream or simply enjoy all on its own!
Helpful Tips For Success
- If your baking dish is quite full, place a baking sheet underneath it to catch anything that might bubble over while baking. This helps to prevent a mess in the oven.
- If at any point the topping starts to brown too much before it is finished, you can tent the baking dish with a piece of aluminum foil and continue baking.
- and the most important tip of all…
Use a kitchen scale!
I HIGHLY recommend using a kitchen scale to measure the dry ingredients in the streusel crumble topping. It allows you to achieve the correct texture and consistent results every time (vs. the huge variation you can get filling measuring cups). Not to mention, it’s so much easier and way less messy! I use this Escali kitchen scale but you can also find others on Amazon (some for under $10).
Storage + Make Ahead Tips
Crumbles are best eaten fresh from the oven but leftovers can also be stored and eaten warm or cold.
- To store: Store leftovers covered in the fridge for 3-5 days. Serve cold or warm it up in the oven.
- To freeze: Once baked, cool completely and freeze for up to 3 months. To serve, thaw in fridge overnight and warm in the oven. The crumble topping tends to not be as crispy but otherwise still delicious.
- Make ahead: The crumble topping can be made ahead of time and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. When you are ready to bake, simply prepare the fruit mixture, sprinkle on the prepped topping and pop it in the oven!
Possible Variations
- Add nuts: Add some chopped nuts like pecans, walnuts or almonds to the crumble topping.
- Adjust spices: The recipe calls for cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg. You can leave one out or add in something else like ground ginger or allspice for example.
- Make individual desserts: Assemble individual servings in ramekins.
- Make it gluten free: Use gluten-free flour.
- Make it vegan or dairy free: Use vegan butter.
- Use less topping: This recipe includes a generous amount of delicious streusel topping. If you prefer a lighter topping, feel free to use less. Or double the fruit mixture and make two crumbles!
A Few Questions Answered
The difference is in the topping! Traditionally, a crumble topping is made of flour, butter and sugar (a simple streusel), whereas a crisp topping will also contain oats and sometimes nuts for a crispy texture when baked. The terms tend to be used interchangeably now though. This Plum Apple Crumble recipe has a butter streusel topping which aligns with the traditional crumble definition.
Sure! You could sub in berries, cherries or peaches for example.
Any type you like! I personally tend to use Honey Crisp, Gala, Pink Lady or Fuji apples and I love Italian plums and red plums but any type of plums will work.
More Easy Fruit Desserts
Love fruit desserts? Me too! Here are a few more that you might enjoy:
Did you make this Plum and Apple Crumble recipe? I would love to hear about it! Leave me a comment below or tag me on Instagram.
Plum and Apple Crumble
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cook Time: 35 min
- Total Time: 50 min
- Yield: 6
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: German, American, British
Description
This Plum and Apple Crumble recipe is the perfect late-summer or fall dessert. Chopped up plums and apples are topped with the most delicious butter streusel in this easy-to-make comfort food recipe. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, custard or whipped cream and enjoy!
Ingredients
For the fruit mixture:
- 1 ½ pounds (680 grams) apples, peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces (approx. 4 medium sized apples)
- 1 pound (454 grams) plums, pitted and cut into chunks
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) organic cane sugar
- 2 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
For the streusel crumble topping:
- 250 grams (2 cups) unbleached all purpose flour
- 125 grams (1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons) organic cane sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 170 grams (3/4 cup or 1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven: Preheat the oven to 375F / 190C.
- Prepare fruit mixture: In a large mixing bowl, gently stir together the fruit mixture ingredients and set aside.
- Make the streusel crumble topping: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Add the softened butter and vanilla extract. Beat until it combines and forms large crumbles. Press together any smaller crumbs by hand to form bigger crumbs (you don’t want the topping to be too fine). Alternatively, make the streusel by hand (see notes for instruction).
- Assemble: Pour the fruit mixture into a lightly greased 9-inch baking dish (or similar capacity) and spread out evenly. Then sprinkle the streusel (crumble mixture) evenly over the top.
- Bake: Bake for 35-40 minutes or until fruit mixture is tender and bubbly and topping is lightly golden brown. Remove from oven and rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
- Serve and enjoy: Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, custard, yogurt, vanilla sauce, whipped cream or simply enjoy all on its own!
Notes
- Weight of fruit listed is when it is whole still.
- Making streusel by hand: Instead of using a mixer, you can also make the topping by hand. Whisk together the flour, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Drop in pieces of the softened butter and use your hands to press and pinch the butter into the flour mixture to form large crumbles.
- Use a kitchen scale! I HIGHLY recommend using a kitchen scale to measure the dry ingredients in the streusel crumble topping in order to achieve the correct texture and consistent results every time (vs. the huge variation you can get filling measuring cups). I use this Escali kitchen scale but you can also find others on Amazon (some for under $10).
- Large crumbs: This crumble topping is more of a German butter streusel. It’s cookie-like with bigger clumps. The crumble should not be fine. Press any small crumbs together with your fingers to form larger pieces. Note: Don’t stop the stand mixer too soon! At first it will look like a dry “sandy” mixture. Just keep on beating until it combines together to form large crumbs.
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This crumble is such a great way to use up plums. I always buy too many and never know what to do with them all. We can only eat so many! Pairing the plums with apples in this crisp makes for an interesting combination of flavours and textures too.
I always over buy as well when they are in season! I’m glad that you enjoyed this fruit combo!
ive made a lot of apple crumbles but this one with plum is really wonderful. thanks for this lovely recipe
Glad that you enjoyed the plum/apple combo!
I made this crumble with gluten free flour and it turned out amazing. So simple and so delicious. Thanks for sharing.
I’m glad it worked out! Thanks for letting me know!
Love this crumble versus a crisp! The topping is buttery and tender like shortbread.
I’m glad you loved it! The topping is delicious right?!
Plums are just such a fruit little used for desserts… I love them! This is spot on for the season and totally due to try this out! Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome! I absolutely love plum desserts and you’re right that they seem to be under utilized here (far more common to see them in European desserts)!
The cardamom and nutmeg add delicious spice to this plum and apple crumble. Perfect for fall!
I agree! Those spices always give me all the cozy fall vibes!
I love this plum and apple crumble. SOunds like a perfect fall treat.
Enjoy!
What a fantastic fall recipe! The combination of plums and apples in this tender cake is destined to become a classic. So good with the vanilla streusel topping!
I’m so happy that you love it!
What a wonderful flavor combination for a dessert crumble. It looks and sounds amazing.
Plums and apples are such a delicious combo! I wish I would have combined them sooner!
This was absolutely delicious! Love the crumble topping and the filling was so tasty!
I’m happy that you enjoyed it!