Chai-Spiced Apple Crumble

I was at Trader Joe's yesterday picking up the apples for this crumble and I almost started bawling, right there in front of the organic lemons. I'm not even exaggerating. A little elderly lady was slowly making her way over to the pears, and another woman came up to her and said something to her I couldn't quite hear. But then I saw this look of pure gratitude wash across the sweet little elderly lady's face and she nodded with a huge, thankful smile and said "yes, thank you so much". The woman bent down and tied the elderly lady's untied shoe and the small little act of kindness made me catch my breath. Not just the gesture itself, but the look of shock and pure appreciation across the elderly lady's face made me happy and sad all at once. Happy that someone cared enough to make sure that sweet little lady didn't trip in the grocery store and sad that I don't witness more acts of kindness like this, or carry more of them out myself. And you know what? The woman who'd helped the elderly lady just went about her grocery shopping after that, like it was nothing. And it was nothing but it was also everything. To that sweet little lady who could barely shuffle a few feet away from her cart let alone bend down to tie her shoe, it made her light up. But it was also nothing, just the bare minimum of human decency. The whole thing got me thinking how we could all stand to be a little kinder to each other, and not just around the holidays when everyone becomes their best selves but all the time. Let's just be kinder and love better. Lord knows I need to. Anyway, sorry for getting kinda deep. And you just showed up for a dessert recipe, right?

So, this crumble. I really wanted to focus on Thanksgiving desserts this year that were irresistibly good but with minimal fussing and effort. Helloooo, crumble. The chai spices are cozy and warm, which are a perfect match for apples and there just aren't many things better than a warm, crisp, gooey fruit crumble with cold, creamy vanilla ice cream, right? Like seriously. Name a better combination. I thought so. Are you in charge of making anything for Thanksgiving this year? Tell me in the comments!

serves 8

filling
6 medium/large-ish apples, peeled, cored, and roughly chopped (I used gala)
1 T fresh lemon juice
1/4 c brown sugar
2 T flour
pinch salt
1 1/2 t spice mix (recipe below)

topping
1/2 c unsalted butter, cold and cubed (1 stick)
1 c rolled oats
1 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c brown sugar
big pinch salt
1 1/2 t spice mix (recipe below)

spice mix
2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground ginger
1/4 t ground cardamom
1/4 c black pepper
pinch ground cloves
pinch ground allspice

Preheat oven to 350 °F. In a small bowl, mix together all the spices for the spice mix and set aside. In a large bowl, toss together the apples with lemon juice, brown sugar, flour and 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of the spice mixture (about half the mixture). Pour into baking pan. Using the same bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, brown sugar, salt, and remainder of the spice mix for the topping. Add in the butter cubes and, using your hands, squeeze the butter into the flour mixture until the butter is incorporated and the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over the apples and bake for about 35-40 minutes, until the top is golden brown and filling is bubbling up the sides of the pan. Allow to cool slightly before serving. And serve with vanilla ice cream, duh.