White Chocolate Apple Crumble...and the time I refused to believe 2014 was coming.

Seriously though, where DID 2013 go? It cannot have gone by so quickly. There must be something wrong with the laws of physics at play here. I absolutely POINT BLANK refuse to accept that it is only a matter of hours until we usher in 2014.

But if we must say goodbye to the year that barely begun, I am going to send it off in style. I wave adieu to 2013 with one of my new signature desserts, my take on apple crumble. I'm very very proud of this recipe. The apples are extra cinnamon-y and not too mushy, there's ALOT of crumble, and it's all very more-ish. But the thing that really pulls it together is the little bits of white chocolate nestled in the crumble. The chunks on top caramelize beautifully and give the whole thing a slightly nutty flavour, while the chunks underneath just ooze and meld the tender apples with the buttery topping.

Please try this, do. It's super simple, I promise!

White Chocolate Apple Crumble

Filling
~ 4 large granny smith apples; peeled, cored and sliced into small chunks.
~ 2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
~ 2 Tbsp brown sugar
~ 1 tsp honey
~1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch

Crumble
~ 1/2 cup butter
~ 1 cup rolled oats, ground fine in a food processor.
~ 1/3 cup sugar
~ 1 cup flour
~ 1/2 cup cashew nuts, chopped up into wee chunks
~ 100g white chocolate, broken up into small chunks as well (you could use white chocolate chips)

You will need an ungreased 8x8 inch baking pan

+ Preheat your oven to 160'C.
+ Mix all the ingredients together for the filling and set aside while you get on with the crumble.
+ In a seperate bowl, rub the butter into the oats, flour and sugar. When it feels like damp sand, mix in the cashew and chocolate chunks.

+ spread your apple filling into the bottom of your baking pan and top with crumble. Like I said, there is ALOT of crumble. This is nice. This is GOOD.
+ Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, periodically turning the pan if it looks like the chocolate chunks are burning too quickly.
+ At the end of 30 minutes, take the pan out and cover it with tin foil. Pierce the top of the foil so that steam from the apples can escape.

+ Turn your oven up to 180'C and bake for a further 20 minutes.
+ Dish up with warm custard, or (my favourite) cold, cold, vanilla ice cream.

And on that sweet note, see you guys in 2014!