Apple Crumble in a Mug: A Five-Minute Pudding for October

An apple crumble in the 'I Made A Cupcake But I Eated It' mug, with a loose golden crumble topping and apple juices bubbling at the edges, steam rising. A teaspoon lies on a linen tea towel beside it,

October is apple month in Britain. The orchards are full, farm shops have crates of Bramleys by the door, and Apple Day comes round on 21 October. The evenings are drawing in too, so a warm pudding starts to feel less like a treat and more like something you need.

This apple crumble in a mug is one portion. You don't need to heat the oven or wash a dish. You get soft, cinnamon-spiced apple underneath and a buttery oat topping on top, and it's ready in less time than it takes to make the custard.

Time5 minutesMakesone mugMade inI Made A Cupcake But I Eated It Mug

Ingredients

For the apple

  • 1 medium eating apple (about 150g), or half a Bramley
  • 2 tsp soft light brown sugar (add another tsp if you're using Bramley)
  • ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp water

For the crumble

  • 2 tbsp plain flour (about 20g)
  • 1 tbsp porridge oats (about 10g)
  • 1 tbsp soft light brown sugar (about 15g)
  • 15g cold butter, cubed
  • A pinch of salt
The ingredients for the apple crumble measured out around the empty 'I Made A Cupcake But I Eated It' mug: an eating apple, two small bowls of brown sugar, cinnamon on a spoon, little dishes of lemon
Everything you'll need

Method

  1. Step 1
    Peel and core the apple, then cut it into small cubes of about 1cm. Smaller pieces soften faster and more evenly.
    Hands dicing a peeled apple into small cubes on a chopping board in front of the empty mug.
  2. Step 2
    Put the apple in the mug with the sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice and water, and stir well.
    A hand pouring lemon juice from a teaspoon over sugared, cinnamon-dusted apple cubes in the mug.
  3. Step 3
    Microwave the apple by itself for 1 to 2 minutes, until it starts to soften. Give it a stir.
    A hand stirring steaming, softened apple cubes in the mug with a teaspoon.
  4. Step 4
    While the apple cooks, make the topping. In a small bowl, rub the butter into the flour, oats, sugar and salt with your fingertips. Stop when it looks like rough breadcrumbs with a few bigger clumps.
    Fingertips rub butter into flour, oats and sugar in a small ramekin beside the mug of softened apple.
  5. Step 5
    Scatter the crumble over the apple. Don't press it down, as a loose topping cooks better.
    Fingers scattering loose crumble topping over the apple in the mug.
  6. Step 6
    Microwave for another 1 to 2 minutes, until the apple is bubbling at the edges and the topping looks set.
    A hand setting the hot mug down by its handle. The crumble is set, with apple bubbling at the edges.
  7. Step 7
    Leave it to stand for a couple of minutes before you eat it. Cooked apple and sugar get much hotter than they look.
    Hands waiting with a teaspoon beside the steaming apple crumble mug while it stands to cool.

Microwaves vary a lot, so start with the shorter time and add 20 seconds at a time if you need to. A lower-powered microwave may need the full time or a little more. In a powerful one, the shorter time is usually enough.

Getting a crunchier top

A microwave won't brown a crumble the way an oven does. The topping comes out soft and a little cakey, which is lovely in its own way. If you miss the crunch, toast the crumble mixture in a dry frying pan over a medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring, until it turns golden. Give the apple its full microwave time, then spoon the toasted crumble on top just before serving.

Bramley or eating apple?

Either will do. A Bramley collapses into a sharp, fluffy purée, which is the classic crumble filling, but it needs that extra spoonful of sugar. An eating apple such as a Cox or Braeburn holds its shape and is sweeter on its own. If a neighbour has given you a bag of windfalls, this is a good way to use them up one at a time.

Make it your own

  • Use a microwave-safe mug and leave plenty of room above the filling, because the apple bubbles up as it cooks.
  • Apple and blackberry: add a small handful of blackberries with the apple. Folklore says you shouldn't pick blackberries after Old Michaelmas Day, which falls around now, because the devil has spoiled them. From here on, frozen ones may be the safer bet.
  • Warmer spice: swap half the cinnamon for mixed spice or a pinch of ground ginger.
  • Nutty top: stir a teaspoon of chopped hazelnuts or flaked almonds into the crumble.
  • To serve: custard is traditional, but cold cream or vanilla ice cream melting into the hot apple is hard to beat.

Mugs to make it in

Half the fun of a mug pudding is the mug. Whichever one you choose, check that it's microwave-safe before it goes in. For any of ours, see what its own product page says about care first.

The food and cooking mugs are a good fit for the keen cook in your life. Halloween comes at the end of the month, so you could serve a warm crumble in one of our Halloween mugs once the trick-or-treaters have gone home.

Crumble often reminds people of a parent's or grandparent's kitchen. That makes it a nice thing to make for the person who first made it for you, in one of our mugs for Mum or grandparents mugs. If you'd like their name on it, have a look through our personalised mugs. A quick pudding in a mug with your name on it feels like a small present.

Put the kettle on and enjoy your first proper pudding of autumn.

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