I recently enjoyed a simple but delicious dessert at one of my favourite restaurants, Ottimo Italian Kitchen in Hunters Hill. Their version of apple crumble was made and served in individual ceramic ramekins, with a decadent buttery shortbread-style crumble. Beneath this golden, vanilla-scented topping was spoonful after spoonful of delicately chopped, sweetly spiced sticky apple.

That intoxicating combination of apples, cinnamon and vanilla stayed with me and I decided to experiment and make a larger version at home for my family to enjoy after dinner. I should add at this point that although my crumble was delightful and was snaffled up quick smart by my children, the Ottimo Italian Kitchen’s twist on the traditional crumble still reigns supreme in my book. I can’t wait to order it again!

To make the apple interior of my version of Melting Moment Apple Crumble, I turned to one of my favourite cooking manuals, My Very Special Cookbook, by Margaret Fulton. It sits on a bookshelf labelled, “Grand Dames” alongside books by Stephanie Alexander and Maggie Beer. Published in 1980, my copy originally belonged to my mother who insisted that I take it with me when I moved from Perth to Sydney over 18 years ago. The pages are dog eared, sauce stained and splattered with spots of cake batter. This is especially evident on page 302, which I turned to often when making the Black Forest Cherry Torte in my teens. It was THE cake to make for a special occasion. 

On page 290 is the most simple and scrumptious recipe for French Apple Tart (this page has butter marks from when I made this tart numerous times over!) It is here that I followed the ingredients and method for the apple filling used in my Ottimo Italian Kitchen-inspired crumble, with the exception of the all-spice. I substituted equal amounts of ground cinnamon and nutmeg, about an eighth of a teaspoon of each. 

The topping was courtesy of a reliable recipe for Melting Moments found on page 105, in Merle’s Kitchen, by Merle Parrish. I scooped the mixture once combined, into a piping bag fitted with a large size 15 fluted nozzle. Small rosettes were piped over the apple mixture which had been evenly spread out across a Pyrex pie dish, measuring 22 cm in diametre. 

This was placed into a fan forced oven at 160 degrees for about 20 minutes. 

While this dessert was cooking, I decided to make as an accompaniment a basic vanilla egg custard on page 21 of The Cook’s Companion by Stephanie Alexander. I have made this custard successfully many times previously.

Unfortunately, this evening’s attempt was a flop. Complete flop, completely my fault. The custard needs to be whisked CONSTANTLY over a moderate heat. My heat was too high, I let the whisk rest for a minute as I turned to check on the progress of dinner. BIG MISTAKE! The contents curdled and instead of a silky, pastel yellow custard I ended up with a pot of bubbling, separated slop. I poured the lot down the sink. At least the crumble turned out a treat.