Home-garden Apple Pie Crumble with Oats and Chex

Yet another Apple Pie Crumble, with Oats and Cinnamon Chex™ for the crunchy topping. Standard single crust pie crust recipe that I always use for the home-made pies. Why Cinnamon Chex? The crunch from it is the latest family obsession for home-made crumbles.


The solitary capricious little apple tree managed to bear enough fruits for Codling moth and us.

Jars of apple sauce got made and canned. 

(Hard) Apple Cider came about thanks to the home-made wooden apple press.

Mini Caramel apples got made as well, when the older child felt like it. Which was pretty much every other day. As it is easy to make especially with ready-to-melt caramels chips and ready-made toffee crunch, it seemed all right to indulge.

Finally, our neighbors came and got some of the apples (with permission, of course) from our tree, what was left after the pests got some.

Pear Apple Sauce

Not a fancy recipe, just a plain old staple with my signature fusion of organic home-garden fruits - viz., apples and two varieties of pears.

We had a lot of apples and pears and plums from our garden this year. Usually, the trees skip a year or two bearing bountiful fruits only once in 2 years or so. This was one of those good years.

As we don't use any pesticides or chemical synthetic fertilizers, the worms and bugs get to the fruits often unless we are vigilant. Plums seem immune from any infestation so far.

After canning about half a dozen pint jars of Apple Plum Butter, I still had enough apples leftover to make something else.

We had very few traditional pears - the kind that kids loved eating off the tree for a snack. But, there were plenty of Asian Pears. (Also susceptible to bugs.)

And that's how this Pear Apple Sauce came about: After cutting and discarding worm-eaten fruits, there was enough pears and apples to make about 2 half gallon jars and 2 pint jars of Pear Apple Sauce.

Simply chop the fruits coarsely (skin and all), cook in just enough water to soften them. Puree in batches. Return to boil. Keep simmering while canning as usual in a Boiling Water Bath.

I added a hint of cinnamon and some Agave nectar as I had splashed some lemon juice on the cut fruits to keep them from browning too much. If it is too tart, the kids don't prefer it, but I didn't want to use any sugar.

Just 4 simple ingredients (two is probably all the is traditionally used): fruits, water, cinnamon, agave nectar, simmer and save.

Apple Plum Butter

We had a fairly sizable yield of Jonagold Apples and Italian plums from our garden this year. The apples, plums, pears in the garden usually skip a year or two for giving maximum fruits, so, the years when they are aplenty I like to can them.

As they are organic, the worms get to the apples before we do so it is a bit tenuous to share it with friends. As we joke at home, What's worse than biting into an apple and finding a worm? Biting into an apple and finding half a worm!

Chopping the apples up and getting the good parts is usually fun, even if a bit tedious.

Plums have been safe from bugs so far - birds and squirrels get to them first. There is a short window when they are perfectly ripe for picking, when they are juicy and sweet and ready to eat. But they are just fine when they are firm but tart and work well for jams and preserves.

I like to can some of them whole, pit and all, in mild syrup so it saves time. But taking that extra effort to pit the plums and make jams and preserves is very satisfying too.

The Apple Plum Butter/Jam is a pretty straightforward recipe: simply cook with favorite spices for long enough time till apples caramelize to a thick jam-like consistency.  I did not measure exactly for this batch.

Ingredients
Chopped apples, skin and all
Chopped Italian plums, pitted
Lemon juice
Prune Juice
Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cloves
Brown sugar (or Splenda, just enough to reduce the tartness)
Apple Cider vinegar
Water as needed

I cooked the above ingredients on stove-top for about half an hour over medium heat, then transferred to a slow cooker/crock pot and left it overnight on low, and finally increased it to high to finish cooking for the last 2 hours. Indeed, it takes about 14 hours to make this but one taste and it convinces me that it is worth it.

I made some garlic relish as well, and some key lime pickle - my favorites - Indian-style. Unlike the usual Chunky style Lime Garlic Chili pickle, I diced the key lime finely and minced the garlic and chopped the chili to make a Thokku-like pickle.