Unfortunately, nowhere near my small town sells this regularly and the photo I saw was from a restaurant in upstate New York. So, I improvised with what ingredients I had around the house.

Pumpkin seeds instead of pecans.

Chia seeds to add a little extra crunch.

Lime juice instead of lemon juice.

Welllll, because that’s the available ingredients I had.

After what some may call “market research” I had a 7/7 perfect rating taste test among my husband and colleagues. So much so that I’m pretty sure this will be the desert I’m making and taking to family holidays this year!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 sticks butter melted(not margarine). Use leftover sticks to butter pan.
• 1 C all purpose flour
• 3/4 C raw pepitas
• 3/4 C brown sugar (I didn’t pack mine down)
• pinch of salt (I use course ground sea salt)
• 4 large apples, cored and thinly sliced
• 1/2 c granulated sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• juice of 1 lime
• ice cream and/or whipped cream for serving (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Use leftover butter to grease deep baking dish. I used a deep pie dish.
3. In medium bowl, mix together flour, pepitas, brown sugar, and salt. Stir in melted butter and mix with a fork until texture is course and of a crumble consistency.
4. Add apples, sugar, cinnamon, and lime juice to baking dish and stir until evenly coated. Spread into an even layer then top with crumble mixture. Bake for 1 hour until topping is crispy brown and apples mixture is bubbling.

Just as a side note of what I didn’t do: I did not pack the crumble topping down on top of the apples. I let is loosely fall wherever and however. I really wanted the topping to be light and as crispy-crumbly as possible. I also did not peel my apples.

Keep in mind that as you top your apples with the crumble, you CAN modify to your preference! I discarded about 1/3 of my crumble mixture because I was afraid that the topping was getting way to thick. If you prefer a thinner topping, use less crumble prior to baking and vice versa.

My ratio of apples to topping was 2:1. Obviously you can changing this to your personal preference as I am someone who likes more apples than anything.