Apple cranberry walnut oat crumble for a picnic

I went for a picnic a couple weeks back with some of my girlfriends. They requested that I make the dessert, and I was okay since you know, I love to bake. And the girl pals are not a big fan of sweet, so they requested something fruity, preferably a fruit crumble. So, I decided to make an apple crumble. And add in frozen cranberries(which are tart) that I had frozen when they were in season  to make the dessert less sweet.

Apples, cranberries, walnuts and oats.

Varieties of apples; Apple crumble

I had bought a few varieties of apples, and so I used a couple mixed ones for the crumble. I love how that apples come in so many little varieties, looking so similar, yet so different, based on their differing shapes, sizes and colours.

Individual portions

The baking dish I used for our picnic was medium sized, so I had leftover fruit and topping that I used for three to four smaller individual ramekins. Those were for the family. ^^

The general consensus was the apple crumble was yums, albeit too sweet. Hmmm, depending on who's the taster I guess. One girl pal, my dad and I thought that the apple filling was way sweet (perhaps cos I used three and not four apples when I halved the recipe...), while the other girl pal thought that it was sour (due to the addition of the cranberries). Haha. So, please judge accordingly and alter the below proportions according to your sweetness preference.

For me, personally, I would reduce the sugar proportions the next time I make it again. And yes, I will make it again, cos the topping is simply delicious! Crunchy, cinnomon-y, oaty - it was perfect. My kitchen smelled so wonderful of warm flavours while the apple crumble was baking in the oven. Mmmmmmm. I wish I can bottle up smells during such occasions. Imagine if you had  perfumes such as "Apple crumble", "Vanilla", "Chocolate cookie", or even "Lemon sugar". My my...

Some random pictures of my picnic in the meantime...

Marker drawn eggs and my pal's ukulele

Picnic fare - Chicken drums; sushi; turkey

Apple crumble for dessert; a book to chill with

A bottle of wine rounds things up, together with our memories captured on polaroid film. ^^

Apple cranberry walnut oat crumble (adapted from Jennifer at Onceuponachef)

Topping
1 cup rolled oats
big 1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
85g flour
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
85g unsalted butter, melted

Fruit Filling
3 large baking apples, peeled, cored and sliced ¼-inch thick
1 cup cranberries, fresh or frozen
2/3 cup granulated sugar (*recommend reducing cos too sweet for just three apples)
1 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 170C. Butter a baking dish (and a few smaller ramekins if have excess).
To make the topping, mix the oats, walnuts, flour, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon together in a bowl. Stir in the melted butter, then press the topping together with your hands to form small clumps. Put the topping in the freezer while you assemble the filling.
To make the fruit filling, toss the apples, cranberries, sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon together in a large bowl. Transfer the filling to the prepared pans and spread it out, pressing the fruit down into the corners.
Press the oat crumble evenly over the fruit, then bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the crumble is lightly golden and the filling is bubbling up in the corners. Cool, serve while still warm.

(Note: As I was heading out for the picnic, after leaving to cool for 10 minutes, I wrapped the top of the dish with foil and brought it out to the picnic. It was still warm when we tucked into it several hours later. *probably because the weather was hot so it kept the dish warm too? ^^)