I was never a huge fan of apple crumble as a kid. I think I’d had too many anemic looking crumbles with apples that had reduced to sauce. Apple Betty is a suped-up crumble with much more texture and flavour than a traditional crumble. Walnuts and oats in the topping and not cutting your apples too small are key to giving this pudding a great texture. I use Canadian flavours of cinnamon and maple syrup then cover the whole lot in British custard.

INGREDIENTS
Serves 4 Adults
3 cooking apples (or 4 regular apples)
1 tbsp cornflour
2 tbsp lemon juice (approx. 1 lemon)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
60g oats
50g chopped walnuts
3 tbsp maple syrup
75g dark brown sugar
50g butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

• Peel and core the apples then cut into quarters and cut each quarter in half. Put the apple in a bowl and sprinkle over the cornflour and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon then add the lemon juice and stir to coat the apples. Put the apples into a 22×15 oval baking dish.
• Pre-heat the oven to 195°C (175°C fan). Put the oats, sugar, spices, butter and maple syrup in a bowl and combine using your fingers.
• Chop the walnuts and add to the mixture, stir to combine. Spread the mixture over the apples and press it down. Place on a lower middle oven shelf so that the sugar doesn’t burn then bake for 35 minutes and serve with custard, cream or vanilla ice-cream.