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Lighter Austrian Apple Crumble (Apfel-Crumble) with Vanilla Quark
Recipe

Lighter Austrian Apple Crumble (Apfel-Crumble) with Vanilla Quark

Dessert • Austria

A practical, everyday-friendly apple crumble inspired by Austrian flavours. Uses oats and a little canola oil instead of lots of butter, and is served with lightly sweetened vanilla quark for a satisfying dessert.

Why smarter

The crumble keeps a familiar crisp topping while using oats and canola oil to reduce saturated fat. Quark adds protein and creaminess without heavy cream, and the sweetness is kept moderate with fruit doing most of the work.

Chef tip

If your apples aren’t very sweet, add an extra 1–2 tsp sugar to the filling; if they’re very juicy, add 1 more tsp cornstarch to keep the crumble crisp.

Soft line

Comforting, not heavy—perfect with a spoon of vanilla quark.

Ingredients

# Ingredient Text Amount Unit Ingredient Name Notes
1 Apples (e.g., Elstar or Boskoop), peeled, cored and sliced 700.000 g apples about 4–5 medium
2 Lemon juice 1.000 tbsp lemon juice
3 Ground cinnamon 1.000 tsp ground cinnamon
4 Granulated sugar (for the apples) 2.000 tbsp granulated sugar
5 Cornstarch 2.000 tsp cornstarch helps thicken juices
6 Rolled oats 60.000 g rolled oats
7 All-purpose flour (Type 480) 50.000 g all-purpose flour
8 Ground almonds 40.000 g ground almonds or finely chopped hazelnuts
9 Granulated sugar (for the crumble) 30.000 g granulated sugar about 2 1/2 tbsp
10 Vanilla sugar 1.000 tsp vanilla sugar or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
11 Canola oil 3.000 tbsp canola oil
12 Fine salt 1.000 pinch salt
13 Quark (Topfen), low-fat 250.000 g quark
14 Plain yogurt (1.5–3.5%) 120.000 g plain yogurt to loosen the quark
15 Honey or maple syrup 1.000 tbsp honey adjust to taste
16 Vanilla extract 1.000 tsp vanilla extract

Method

  1. Heat oven to 190°C (top/bottom heat). Lightly oil a medium baking dish (about 20–22 cm square or similar) with a little canola oil.
  2. Add sliced apples to the dish. Toss with lemon juice, cinnamon, sugar and cornstarch until evenly coated.
  3. In a bowl, mix oats, flour, ground almonds, sugar, vanilla sugar and a pinch of salt.
  4. Drizzle in the canola oil and rub with fingertips (or stir with a fork) until you get a crumbly mixture with some small clumps.
  5. Scatter the crumble topping evenly over the apples.
  6. Bake for 25–30 minutes, until the top is golden and the apples are bubbling at the edges. Let stand 5 minutes to set slightly.
  7. Meanwhile, stir quark, yogurt, honey (or maple syrup) and vanilla extract until smooth and spoonable.
  8. Serve the warm apple crumble with a generous spoon of vanilla quark on the side (or on top).