Recipe: caramelized apple squares with oat-hazelnut crumble

Ingredients

The crumble 

• 45g non-hydrogenated margarine or butter at room temperature
• 55g white powdered sugar
• 40g white flour
• 15g rolled oats
• 30g hazelnuts
• 1 pinch fine salt

Cake base 

• 90g Greek yogurt (or classic or soy yogurt)
• 100g white flour
• 35g white powdered sugar
• 35g brown sugar
• 1/3 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 pinch fine salt
• 1 egg (organic!)

For the caramelized apples 

• 4 small apples (about 400g)
• 5 cases white caster sugar (85g)

Préparation

1 - Start by preparing the crumble:

• Crush the hazelnuts with a knife and set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, combine all the other dry ingredients for the crumble: sugar, flour, rolled oats and salt. Add the butter and mix in with a fork. Finally, add the chopped hazelnuts and fold in by hand. Set aside in the fridge.

2 - Caramelize the apples:

• Pour the 5 tablespoons of sugar into a frying pan and heat. While the caramel is forming, cut each apple into 4 pieces, remove the seeds and peel, then throw them into the caramel.
• Cover and leave to gently caramelize while you prepare the cake base. Remember to turn the apples over from time to time to coat them well.

3 - Preparing the base :

• Mix the yoghurt with the sugars. Add half the flour. Mix, add the egg, mix and finish by incorporating the remaining flour, salt and baking powder.

4 - Final assembly :
Line your mold with parchment paper, then, in this order:

• Spread the yogurt mixture
• Place the caramelized apples
• Cover with crumble
• Bake for 30 minutes in a preheated oven at 180°C.

TIPS

Hazelnuts

• You can crush the hazelnuts in a food processor, but be careful not to over-mix them to keep the pieces nice and crunchy.
• In order to remove inhibitors contained in hazelnuts (phytic & oxalic acids), soak them for ½ day before crushing. You'll then benefit much more from their minerals. Don't hesitate to add other oilseeds to the crumble: walnuts, almonds, pistachios...

The apples

• You can easily increase the quantity of apples, to at least 600g (i.e. 6 small apples - 4 normal ones), it will be even better!
• Once the apples have caramelized, you may have some caramel left in the pan. Keep it! It contains apple juice and will go perfectly with your squares when you're ready to serve :)
• Sugars ... come on, I've got my calculator out! A "small" square (the cake for 12 slices) contains 17.5g of added sugars - the equivalent of 3.5 stones of sugar. A large square, on the other hand, contains 26g of added sugars - the equivalent of ¾ of a can of soda... Which isn't catastrophic, given the size of the piece. That said, it's always a good idea to cut down on fast sugars...
• So you can reduce the amount of sugar in the yoghurt cake base, but even more so in the crumble, I find. And why not swap it for brown sugar or natural syrups (for the base)? And next time, I'll try wholemeal flour instead of white!

TASTING

• Tasted hot or cold, what could be better than a small scoop of crèeme glacé to accompany this soft (the base), melting (the apples!) and creamy cake? It looks like jam!) and crunchy (the crrrrrrrumble)?
• Don't forget to serve with the caramel you've set aside!
• Texture and taste are guaranteed! Enjoy!

Recipe presented by:

See the whole recipe: Rose's Little Dishes