Crumble

Serve this as a starter: It’s nice to have on the table as a beginning for a brunch. You might also serve it as a summery dessert.

This apple crumble is the ultimate healthy-eating comfort food. Together the warm cinnamon apples and the rich walnut topping can’t be beat. Combining apples of mixed texture works best. A firm variety such as Golden Delicious will retain its shape and texture while a Cortland will lend itself beautifully to producing a thick, delicious sauce.

This crumble is one of the best comfort foods I’ve ever tasted. My kids give it “Two thumbs up, and two big toes up!” As an added bonus, it’s made with fresh fruit, no refined sugar, and protein-rich, fiber-rich quinoa flakes. We eat this for breakfast, at teatime, as dessert, and any time in between.

I’m known for barbecue, not for baking. But there are times when I’m called on to produce a dessert, and I’ll tell you right now that there’s nothing easier to make than this apple crunch. It’s like apple pie without the hassle; you don’t even have to make a crust. If you’re really feeling desperate and in a big hurry, you can top the apples with half of the batter of a boxed cake mix; it’s good that way, too.

Crisps and crumbles—they are one and the same—were always a favorite in our family, and I miss having them on a regular basis. But I found it’s very easy to make just one portion in a small casserole dish (I use an onion-soup bowl).

The easiest crumble we know of—it uses frozen cherries and store-bought shortbread cookies that you can find on the natural foods shelf. (See photo)

It was summer in New England the first time I read about the health benefits of blueberries. I rushed to the pick-your-own patch on a nearby hill. I put several perfect ones in my palm with all their little hats aligned—an army of antioxidant soldiers. I ate them. Sweet, with a tang. Yet, sadly, I felt nothing. My blood did not quicken; my heart did not swell with strength. I was my just my same old self, munching a handful of blueberries by the side of the road. In my chocolate research, this moment comes to mind often. The benefits of chocolate arrive quietly amid a myriad of other healthful living components. Health through chocolate is a practice. Chocolate and blueberries, both miracles of nature, join here for a berry breakfast or homey, warm dessert.

The rosemary adds a sophisticated taste to this old favorite. It’s great in the summertime when blackberries are at their peak.

I love apples. I have this recurring dream where I leave the stress of the restaurant world behind and start a cider house, making exquisite hard cider. I start at sunrise and I finish in the mid-afternoon and retire to the farmhouse to cook a dinner for Mary and the girls. Apple brown betty is like a crisp made with bread crumbs. It's a wonderful dessert that is so simple and so rewarding in results. This is a good one for roping the kids into helping. Those apples aren’t going to peel themselves. Zabaglione is also known in France as sabayon. It is a custard-based dessert, cooked with a dessert wine. I stabilize mine with whipped cream and serve it cold, whereas in Italy and France you often see them served warm. Kind of like an eggnog in heaven.

I like to use frozen berries for this crumble. Not only can I have it any time of year, but the juices left in the bag after thawing provide sweetness (without adding a lot of sugar) and sauce for the crumble.

It's easy to understand why apple crumble pie (sometimes called French apple pie in diners and old cookbooks) is so immensely popular: It packs all the flavor and fragrance of a traditional apple pie underneath a carapace of nutty, buttery, cinnamony crumbs. Adding cranberries to the filling evokes a familiar fall color and provides pleasant tartness to balance the sweetness.

Cranberries, pears, and apples form a sweetly irresistible autumn trinity beneath a crisp oat topping.

Brilliant swirls of raspberry jam and a crunchy crumb topping make this cake far prettier—and tastier—than most.

Baked in individual ring molds, these little desserts feature caramelized pears, streusel topping and sweetened cream.

You can bake this apple oatmeal crumble (with the oven rack in the upper third of the oven) and roast the tomatoes (on the rack in the lower third) for this low-fat menu at the same time.

This cake keeps well and feeds a crowd. The "crumble" is simply a middle layer of pecans, brown sugar, butter and cocoa.

Perfect at the end of a fall meal. Top the dessert with sweetened whipped cream, or team it with scoops of vanilla ice cream.

This recipe was developed from a banana muffin that had a similar crumbly top. When I saw Stephan eat the top and pick out the banana chunks, I realized a new dessert would be healthier, moister, and better appreciated. I was right, but be sure to serve this very warm and don't use very old, overripe bananas — the taste becomes a little intense for children. Mash and freeze such overripe bananas in a plastic container for a banana bread or other similar confections.

Summer's luscious cherries topped with oats, almonds, brown sugar and cinnamon.

Long ago on our honeymoon, we stayed at the Connaught Hotel in London, a bastion of comfortable English tradition. They served what I considered then, and still do, the finest of fruit crumbles. It was served very hot and had a thick golden crumb topping that was baked on top of perfectly cooked and sweetened fruit. Although the crumb topping was crisp on top, it remained pleasantly soft in the middle.

Crumbles are traditional family desserts that can be prepared with almost any fruit. This sophisticated rendition includes toasted almonds in the topping for extra crunch.