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This recipe for Easy Crumble Topping is a 4 ingredient topping for any pie recipe. Use this crumb topping for pies, muffins, crisps, or anything you like all year long!
Why this Crumble Topping for Pie Works
I have been making this crumble topping recipe for over 25 years: it’s a 4 ingredient all-purpose crumb topping for any pie (or even muffins or coffee cake).
- I have the perfect flour-to-butter-to-sugar ratio and mixing technique that creates a crispy, sweet crumble every time.
- You can elevate your crumble recipe with other ingredients, like brown sugar, oats, or nuts to change it up.
- I’m taking all the guesswork out so you can understand all the common mistakes before you begin (no more overworking the dough!)
- My method for when to add your crumble and where to use it is proven and works!
Crumble Pie Topping Ingredients
- Use slightly softened unsalted butter. You can use salted butter, but then omit the added salt. Soften it just a bit, not as soft as when you’re making cookies but not hard straight from the refrigerator.
- Sugar: The best part about this crumb topping for pie is that you can use granulated sugar, brown sugar, or any combination of sugars in this recipe. Just use 2/3 cup of either or the combination.
- Flour: All-purpose flour gives the crumble it’s body. If you prefer an oat crumble, use this oatmeal crumble recipe.
- Salt: Just add a bit of salt only if using unsalted butter.
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Dorothy’s Top Tips for Crumble Pie Topping
- The secret to a crumble that stays crumbly and crunchy is how you work with the butter: stop mixing as soon as the flour, sugar, and salt all come together in pea-sized clumps. You should be able to squeeze this with your hand and it will clump but be dusty. If you keep going, the butter will soften too much and create a paste that melts instead of baking into those crunchy crumbs everyone expects.
- If your kitchen runs warm and the mixture feels at all greasy, pop the bowl in the fridge for 15-20 minutes before sprinkling it on.
- This is also why we use a pastry cutter (or two forks) when making crumble and not a mixer: you don’t want a cohesive cookie dough, you want a crumbly mixture.
Make mixing easier: Grate Your Butter
There is nothing harder than using a pastry cutter to cut in cubed or diced butter. It takes a lot of time and arm strength, so I created a shortcut: I grate the butter. If you want to make mixing the crumble much easier, grate the butter: freeze the butter about 30 minutes then grate it using a box grated into the mxiture.
Best Crumble Topping Recipe
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Ingredients
- 12 tablespoons (170g) unsalted butter
- ⅔ cup (133g) sugar, (packed brown sugar or granulated sugar or a combination)
- 1 ½ cups (186g) all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Grate cold butter into a large bowl. Alternately, you can dice it small.
- Add sugar: use all brown or all white or a combination to make ⅔ cup. Use whatever combination you like (I like using ⅓ cup each brown and white).
- Add flour and then, using a pastry cutter, work the butter into the flour and sugar until the mixture forms coarse crumbs.
- Use crumble as recipe directs, on a fruit pie or on muffins or coffee cake. Bake as directed in recipe.
Notes
- Store crumble in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours before using.
- If using salted butter, omit added salt.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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How to make Crumble Topping
- Add your butter in small chunks or grated into the flour and sugar mixture.
- Crumble topping is delicate and should be crumbly, so you don’t want to use a mixer. You want to make crumble topping by hand, so I like using a pastry cutter. If you don’t have a pastry cutter, you can use a fork or two knives, but a pastry cutter is easier.
- The crumble is done when it’s crumbly and pea-sized with no loose dry ingredients.
Uses for Crumble Topping
- Use this recipe on peach pie or apple pie, blueberry pie, blackberry pie or any fruit you like.
- You can also top mini apple pies or mini berry pies.
- It makes enough topping for slab pie also!
- It’s also the perfect topping for peach crisp or apple crisp.
- Make crumble topping for muffins too!
FAQs
The secret is keeping the butter, sugar, flour, and salt in distinct crumbs instead of working them into a smooth dough. Stop mixing while you still have clumps of every size, because those are what bake up craggy and crisp.
The classic ratio for crumble topping has just 4 parts: 12 T unsalted butter with 2/3 cup white or brown sugar with 1 1/2 cups flour and 1/4 salt. You can make this with only 3 ingredients if you use salted butter (omit added salt).
The secret to a crispy topping is for it to bake cold, with firm chunks of butter. This is why we do this with a pastry cutter and not a mixer (the butter needs to go into the oven still cold).
Used my gloved hands instead of a pastry cutter to make the crumble lol. Just didn’t know the technique for knives or forks. I also think the moisture from the brown sugar helped make the crumble more crumbly but idk. Came out wonderfully and looks like the pictures! Thanks
Glad it came out wonderfully for you! Thanks for sharing!
No mention of how long and at what temperature to cook the crumble.Otherwise the recipe is simple to do.
Hi Jeff, you would place the crumble on top of whatever pie you are making, then bake per those instructions. For example, if you’re making an apple pie, you would make this crumble first, then follow the apple pie recipe for the baking directions. Enjoy!
Can I freeze the crumble mix to save for another time
Yes this works great!
Best strawberry pie I’ve ever made and the only difference was I used this recipe for the crumb topping. Thank you
So glad you enjoyed it!
This makes enough for several pies unless you want 1/2 pie filling and 1/2 crumble
I tried this topping receipe for my apple pie, and it is so easy and incredibly delicious❤️
I made two 9” apple pies and could have made another!
Glad you like the recipe, Marilyn!
Great recipe and grating the butter makes it easier. Knowing I can freeze it is also a bonus. Thank you
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