Great recipes That Work-Bramley Apple Crisp (serves 4)

Bramley,the best cooking apple in the world celebrates it's 200th birthday this year. Throughout the year various chefs and food pundits will be telling you this, but don't forget where you heard this first. Wanting to make this "apple crumble" extra special I will share some professional tricks on how to make your crumble crisp and melt in the mouth.

The Americans call a crumble a crisp, which after consideration I decided was a fitting title. At the end of this recipe you can read a little more about the history of the world's most famous cooking apple.

4 x 4 inch tartlet cases with removable bottoms.
Pastry
250g (10oz) Plain flour
160g (6 ½ oz) butter
1 egg
1Tbsp caster sugar
1Tbsp cold milk

1. Rub the flour and the butter into fine crumbs, mix the sugar with the egg then add.
2. Add the milk and work the paste just enough to bring it together, then rest for 15 minutes.
3. Roll slightly less than a quarter of the pastry out on a lightly floured surface until it is 4mm
(1/5 inch) thick then gently line a butter tartlet case and trim off the excess, repeat until you
have 4 cases and prick the bottom with a fork a few times.
4. *Blind bake the pastry cases in a preheated oven 200 C for 20 minutes then remove the
parchment and baking beans and return to the oven for 5 more minutes at 160 C until lightly brown.

Apple Filling
650g (1lb 8oz) peeled and cored Bramley apples
25g (1oz) butter
1 Tbsp caster sugar
5. Cut the apples first in quarters then slice each quarter into thin wedges.
6. Place into a medium sized stainless steel saucepan with the sugar and butter.
7. Cook on a low heat stirring from time to time until the apples are softened but not fully
cooked.
8. When the wedges are cool fill the pastry case with a good amount of the apple making sure
they are not too wet, use 4-5 slices to covers the edges of the pastry.

Crumble Topping
50g (2oz) Plain flour
25g (1oz) butter
1dessertspoon of oats
1 Tbsp brown sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
9.Rub the flour and butter into a sandy texture, add the oats, sugar, cinnamon and mix well.
10. Spread the crumble topping onto a non-stick baking tray and bake in the oven at 180 C gas
mark 4 until golden brown turning the mix over from time to time.
11. At the same time bake the apple tarts on a lower shelf until the apples are fully cooked.

To serve
Use a dessert spoon and carefully sprinkle the topping into the middle of each tart leaving a small amount of apple visible. Serve with homemade vanilla custard or vanilla ice cream.

Chef's Tips
You will have a little of the pastry spare because getting the balance of ingredients is critical in pastry, and didn't want to start measuring half an egg etc.

Bramley Apples History
1809
The first Bramley tree grew from pips planted by a young girl, Mary Ann Brailsford, in her garden in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England.

1846
A local butcher, Matthew Bramley, bought the cottage and garden.

1856
It was while Matthew Bramley lived in the cottage that a local nurseryman, Henry Merryweather, asked if he could take cuttings from the tree and start to sell the apple. Bramley agreed, but insisted the apple should bear his name – hence 'Bramley's Seedling'.
1862
The first recorded sale of the variety is in Henry Merryweather's book of accounts on 31 October 1862. He sold "three Bramley apples for 2/- to Mr Geo Cooper of Upton Hall".
1876
Fruits of the grafted apple were first exhibited before the Royal Horticultural Society's Fruit Committee on 6 December 1876. They were highly commended.
1887
Bramley Seedlings received a First Class Certificate by the Committee of the Royal Jubilee Exhibition of Apples held in Manchester in October.
1889 and 1893
Bramley Seedling was awarded a First Class Certificate by the Committee of the Nottingham Botanical Society and at the Gardening and Forestry Exhibition in September 1893. The Royal Horticultural Society's Apple Show awarded further First Class Certificates to the Bramley in August 1893.
1900
Disaster struck when the original Bramley tree blew down during violent storms at the turn of the century. However, the tree somehow survived and is still bearing fruit more than 100 years later.
1914
During the early 1900s the Bramley trees were extensively planted, with the fruit a useful source of food during the First World War.
1944
The 1944 fruit census comprised more than one third of six and a quarter million Bramley's Seedling trees in commercial plantations in England and Wales.
1989
Bramley growers themselves are working closely together to expand their market opportunities and, through the Bramley Campaign, which was set up in 1989, are running successful consumer campaigns funded by voluntary subscription.
2003
The Bramley tree was one of fifty great British trees chosen by the Tree Council's country-wide network of tree wardens, as a special way to mark the Golden Jubilee and to celebrate fifty great years – one for every year of the Queen's reign.
Today
The old nickname for the Bramley was "The King of Covent Garden" and still exists today in the New Covent Garden Market, where all specialist fruit wholesales can offer Bramleys to their customers for 12 months of the year.
The original Bramley apple tree continues to bear fruit to this day. Those few pips planted by a little girl in her garden in Nottinghamshire 200 years ago are responsible for what is today a £50 million industry, with commercial growers across Kent, East Anglia and the West Midlands, Bramley apples are also grown on a few farms in the USA.

Here is a link to the official Bramley Apple site.
http://www.bramleyapples.co.uk/Bramleyconsumerbicentenary.shtml

Some of the planned events to celebrate the 200th Birthday of the Bramley Apple.
http://www.bramleyapples.co.uk/Bicentenaryconsumerpage2.shtml