Caramelized apple squares with oat-hazelnut crumble

Ingredients

The crumble 

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

The base of the cake 

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

For the caramelized apples 

• 4 small apples (approximately 400g)
• 5 cases of white powdered sugar (i.e. 85g)

Prrepair

1 – We start by preparing the crumble:

• Crush the hazelnuts with a knife and set aside.
• In a salad bowl, mix all the other dry ingredients for the crumble: sugar, flour, oat flakes and salt. Add the butter and incorporate with a fork. Finally, add the crushed hazelnuts and integrate them by hand. Reserve in the fridge.

2 - Caramelization of apples:

• Pour the 5 tablespoons of sugar into a pan and heat. While the caramel is forming, cut each apple into 4, core and peel them then throw them into the caramel.
• Cover and let gently caramelize while preparing the cake base. Remember to turn the apples from time to time to coat them well.

3 - Preparation of the base:

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

4 - Final edit:
Cover your mold with parchment paper, then, in this order:

• Spread the yoghurt mixture
• Place the caramelized apples
• Cover with crumble
• Bake for 30 minutes in an oven preheated to 180°C.

TIPS

Hazelnuts

• You can crush the hazelnuts in a food processor but be careful not to mix too much to keep nice pieces and add crunch.
• In order to chase away inhibitors contained in hazelnuts (phytic & oxalic acids), you can soak them for ½ day before crushing them. You will then benefit much better from their minerals.  Don’t hesitate to add other oilseeds to the crumble: walnuts, almonds, pistachio, etc.

The apples

• You can easily increase the quantity of apples, to at least 600g (i.e. 6 small apples – 4 normal), it will only be better!
• After caramelizing the apples, you may be left with a caramel base in the pan. Above all, keep it! It contains apple juice and will go perfectly with your squares when serving :)
• Sugars… come on, I took out my calculator! A “small” square (the cake for 12 slices) provides 17.5g of added sugars – the equivalent of 3.5 stones of sugar. A large square provides 26g of added sugars – the equivalent of ¾ of a can of soda… Which is not catastrophic given the size of the piece. That said, it’s always good to cut down on fast sugars…
• You can therefore reduce the amounts of sugar in the yogurt cake base but even more 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 flour!

TASTING

• Enjoyed hot or cold, what could be better than a small scoop of ice cream to accompany this soft (the base), melting (apples)! It looks like jam!!) and crunchy (the crrrrrrumble)?
• Don’t forget to accompany with the caramel set aside!
• Texture and taste will be there, I guarantee it! Enjoy!

See the whole recipe: Rose’s Little Dishes