APPLE crumble. What better pudding is there to dish up on a cold and frosty winter’s day?

It's a sort of recipe that allows you to bring to the table something reliably crowd-pleasing.

It’s just wonderful to tuck into after a brisk morning's walk, or even a leisurely Sunday reading the Keighley News.

If you are eating it after the Sunday roast dinner, you might need a bit of a 'rest' first in order to make room and savour the taste.

Apple crumble is a food which conjures up nostalgic childhood home-baking at its very best, being simple and delicious to make.

This homely pud is certainly not fine patisserie – apple crumble is designed not so much to seduce the eye as to have rural rumpy-pumpy with your taste buds.

No pastry-challenge, no rolling, no wrestling with tricky dough, no blind baking. Just a bit of chopping and mixing stands between you and hot, fruity pleasure!

The crumble is rightly a national institution. So it's surprising that we've only really been making them since the Second World War.

I know for some the cinnamon/apple combo is a religion and a firm favourite of mine too.

Bramley apples are the best sort of apple to use for this pudding, being too sour to eat straight from the tree. They retain their excellent flavour and texture well when cooked.

However, do use whatever apples you have, especially those old ones sitting at the bottom of the fruit bowl feeling tired and sorry for themselves, which are also delicious too!

Just use a little less sugar to take account of the extra sweetness of the apple.

The basic crumble recipe is so easy to make, consisting of flour, butter or margarine and sugar.

However there are some variations you might consider like ground almonds, wholemeal flour or oats instead of white flour to get more texture.

In my opinion butter-made crumble tastes better than that made of margarine – sorry Mary Berry the war is over now!

You can bake crumble in a casserole dish or lasagne-type baking dish, but do leave the lid off when baking or your crumble won't be crisp.

I recommend making the crumble first before you peel and slice the apples. This means that the apples have a minimum amount of time uncovered and are less likely to start to brown.

The amount of apples is up to you: I like a large amount in relation to crumble.

The only other problem you may have is that traditionalists want custard, which is hard to beat, however good vanilla ice cream, evaporated milk or (if you want to be good and keep the fat content to a minimum) yoghurt or crème fraiche, are options to consider.

Finally, I've never managed to make a crumble that matched up to the stuff we were served at school. Dinner ladies, I salute you – how I wish I'd asked for the recipe instead of just seconds.

So go on then, let’s get ready to crumble , make this wonderful pudding and enjoy some nostalgic home-baking again!