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Apple Crumble with Cinnamon Bark

Cinnamon-bark shreds 120 g / cinnamon sticks 60 g · Choose one

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Golden buttery crumble over cooked apple, with a spooned serving beside the dish

Choose either 1 g cinnamon-bark shreds from the Xianyitang 120 g pack or a small piece of cinnamon stick weighing about 2 g from the 60 g pack; do not add both. Thin shreds give more contact with the juices and release aroma more readily during a short simmer. Intact sticks infuse more slowly and are easier to lift out. Enclose shreds in a fine food-grade cotton spice bag, or simmer the stick piece intact. Remove the whole bag or piece before adding the buttery topping. Buy apples, flour and butter separately. The step photos demonstrate the shreds-in-a-sachet option.

Serves4 servings
Soaking / prepPrep about 15–20 min; no soaking
CookingStew apple about 10–15 min; bake about 30–35 min
Total timeAbout 60–75 min

Estimated time includes preparation, stewing, baking and a brief rest, with some tasks overlapping. No soaking is needed. Check actual apple and topping doneness.

Apples, a small amount of thin cinnamon-bark shreds and a cotton spice bag, flour, butter, sugar, lemon and water

Recipe illustrations; measure ingredients using the written quantities.

Ingredients

Cinnamon sticks or bark shreds?

  1. Cinnamon sticks 60 g: intact bark infuses more slowly, suits braises and master stock, and also works with stewed apples. A whole small piece is easier to lift out afterwards.
  2. Cinnamon-bark shreds 120 g: thin strips give more contact with fruit juices and release aroma more readily in a short simmer. Weigh a small amount, use a fine food-grade spice bag and remove it afterwards.
  3. The starting amounts here are 1 g shreds OR about 2 g intact bark, not both. These are recipe estimates, not a claim of identical flavour strength. Adjust to preference on a future batch rather than swapping by whole packs or stick counts.
  4. Photos demonstrate the shreds option. For sticks, follow the written instruction to remove the whole piece and check for fragments; the apple, topping and baking stages stay the same.

Method

Prepare apples and your chosen cinnamon format

Preheat to 180°C conventional or 160°C fan, adjusting for your oven. Prepare an oven-safe shallow dish about 20 cm across and at least 1 litre. Weigh 600 g peeled, cored apple and cut into roughly 2 cm pieces. For shreds, weigh 1 g dry, briefly rinse in a fine sieve and drain, then tie in a fine-weave food-grade cotton spice bag suitable for simmering. Check it cannot leak shreds; do not use plastic. For sticks, select an intact small piece weighing about 2 g dry, briefly rinse and check for loose splinters. Choose only one format; no separate soaking is needed.

Stew apples with your chosen cinnamon

Put apples, either the bark-shred sachet or about 2 g intact cinnamon stick, 20 g sugar, 30 ml water and 10 ml lemon juice in a heavy-based pan. Cover with a gap and gently stew for about 10–15 minutes, turning carefully and checking moisture so the cinnamon contacts a little juice. Add a little hot drinking water if drying to prevent scorching. Apples should soften while keeping pieces, rather than becoming purée. Shreds infuse more readily; remove their sachet earlier if the aroma suits you, while continuing to cook the apples to the required tenderness. The photo shows the sachet option.

Apple pieces gently stewing with a fine cotton sachet containing cinnamon-bark shreds and a little juice

Make crumbs and remove the sachet or stick

While apples stew, lightly rub 120 g flour and 60 g cold butter into irregular crumbs and mix in the remaining 30 g sugar. Do not knead into dough or taste raw flour. Once apples are ready, use clean tongs to remove the whole sachet if using shreds, checking it is intact with no escaped fibres or bark. If using a stick, lift out the whole piece and check for bark fragments. Discard used cinnamon. Neither sachet nor hard bark is baked into or eaten with the dessert.

Layer and scatter the topping

Transfer the hot apples, with a little of their juice and no sachet or cinnamon bark, to the dish; they should not be submerged like soup. Scatter crumbs evenly and loosely without pressing into a solid lid. Put the dish on a baking tray to catch any bubbling juices and place on the middle oven shelf. The sachet or stick has already been removed.

Loose crumbs scattered over the apples after the whole cinnamon-bark sachet has been removed

Bake through and rest briefly

Bake for about 30–35 minutes until golden, the topping has no raw flour layer, juices bubble at the edge, and apple pieces are hot and tender throughout. Loosely cover with foil if colouring too quickly, and continue baking until cooked. Extend and recheck if pale and raw or the apple is firm. Use oven gloves, set on a heatproof surface and rest about 5–10 minutes. Beware of hot fruit juices and divide into four warm servings.

Cooking tips

  • Difficulty: Easy.
  • Choose one format. Shreds infuse faster and need a fine sachet; intact sticks infuse more slowly and are easier to remove. Weigh dry rather than swapping by pack size or counting whole sticks.
  • Spice amounts are starting suggestions: thickness, batch and preference affect the infusion. Adjust a little on a future batch rather than assuming the two amounts have identical strength.
  • Use cold butter and a light touch for the topping. No water or egg is added to it, nor oats, nuts, raisins or ground cinnamon.

Allergens

Contains wheat from flour and milk from butter. The Xianyitang dried-ingredient packs state that they are packed in a facility also handling peanuts, tree nuts, sesame and soya. Check the actual labels of every brand used.

Storage and reheating

Cool leftovers promptly in shallow containers and refrigerate at 5°C or below within 2 hours of baking. Eat within 48 hours. Reheat only once until hot through the apple centres; an oven helps crisp the topping. Do not put a hot baking dish directly on a surface or fridge shelf that is not heat-safe.

Shop the Xianyitang ingredients for this recipe

Actual Xianyitang packaging: Cinnamon Bark Shreds (Dried) 120 g
Actual packaging reference · See product links for pack sizes
Actual Xianyitang packaging: Cinnamon Sticks (Dried) 60 g
Actual packaging reference · See product links for pack sizes