Hello Flavour Fans, and welcome back to Flavour Nuggets! In case you missed a newsletter, there’s a new structure around here and plenty of exciting recipes and treats coming your way. From the beginning of the year, monthly themes form a starting point for a sprawling network of ideas over each 4-5 week period, encompassing different uses for each nugget (the theme) with accompanying recipes, and extra perks for paid subscribers, including giveaways, guests, full archive access and more. If you fancy a bit of that, take advantage of the only special offer I’ll be running this year, which is 20% off an annual subscription. This offer finishes at the end of the month. Now is the time to come on board. You didn’t think I’d do a brown butter theme without exploring dessert, did you? You DID! Don’t deny it. OK, so this isn’t a dessert-focused newsletter in general, sure, but I will always bring you the essentials, and since we’re currently waddling about in comfort food season, well: apple crumble. I thought this recipe was a dead end, truth be told. Yes, apple crumble is the most homely, accessible dessert in existence but to use brown butter in the crumble would mean melting it first and we’re taught that the butter should be cold. The reasoning being that the steam created by the pockets of butter in the oven is necessary for a light and crumbly texture. Browning the butter removes the water content, which would result in no steamy butter pockets. No! Steamy! Butter! Pockets! HOWEVER. I tried it anyway, because I’m curious and that’s what recipe developers do, and… yeah the first time it didn’t work, but the next time I twiddled a few dials and came back with a version that has the same chunky nubbins as the cold butter versions, but all the glorious nutty depth of BB (it’s all in the mixing). You are most welcome.
You see? We can have it all! Oh yeah: I also like a LOT of crust. I want to see vast swathes of tectonic mantle submerging, slowly, into the custard. I want both goo and crisp, dust and rubble. I also use two types of apple because I want variation in textures and tartness. And of course, there’s the custard. I’ve had this idea for a popcorn-infused custard knocking about in my head for a while, but hadn’t found a home for it until now. I thought, hmm, the toffee apple flavours from the fruit + brown butter combo will meet the toasty popcorn in the custard, and incredible things will happen. Fireworks! Dancing! A plane pulling a banner across the sky! Friends, I was right. It’s the dessert we need to see us through Jan: a riot of jammy caramelised corners, butter-drenched clods of golden crust and twinkly demerara sugar. It’s an all-natural upper; the polar opposite of Blue Monday; a contented cat purring. It’s all the fun of the fair.
Brown Butter Apple Crumble with Popcorn Custard If you’re going to make the custard, please note that I used Proper Corn Sweet Popcorn. A brand like Butterkist is going to be much sweeter, and I haven’t tested the recipe with other brands. 30g salted butter Popcorn custard If you’re making the popcorn custard, start by infusing the milk and cream. Combine the milk and cream in a saucepan and bring to just below boiling point. Add the popcorn, cover and set aside for an hour to infuse. After this time, strain the milk and cream mixture into a measuring jug, squishing the popcorn down to extract as much liquid as possible. Add some milk to top the liquid back up to 700ml. Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, vanilla and cornflour in a separate bowl. Bring the milk/cream mixture back up to just under boiling point. Gradually pour the hot milk/cream mixture over the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Pour it into a clean pan and heat gently, stirring all the time, until thickened. Set aside with clingfilm directly on top of the custard’s surface, to stop a skin from forming. CRUMBLE RECIPE Preheat the oven to 170°C fan. Place the 30g butter into a saucepan and brown it by melting, swirling the pan regularly. The butter will start spluttering as the water evaporates; keep stirring or swirling. The butter will start to foam, which is when the milk solids will start to brown. Keep swirling and keep an eye on it - all of a sudden, the milk solids will darken. Add the chopped Bramley apples, lemon juice and zest, cinnamon, sugar and 4 tablespoons of water and cook gently, stirring regularly, until the apples have started to soften - about 5 minutes. Combine with the eating apples, mix well, then add to a baking dish and set aside. Add the 200g butter for the crumble to a light-coloured pan over medium heat and brown it (see above), then transfer to a smaller bowl and set over a larger bowl of cold water to cool down. Combine the flour, oats and sugar in a bowl and mix together, then tip out onto a tray. Pour half the brown butter over it, by streaking it around like Jackson Pollock, then run a fork through it so that it just comes together and you’ve got some big lumps and some smaller bits. DO NOT OVER MIX. Do this again with the other half of the butter. Then sprinkle over 2 tablespoons of water and use the same action. You should now have an uneven rubble. Spoon the crumble topping over the apples so that it’s resting on top - don’t press it down. Sprinkle with the 2 tablespoons of demerara sugar. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until the top is crisp and golden. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before serving to allow the juices underneath to thicken up. Serve with the custard! Or whatever you like!
SUPERSIZE ME! This week, a buttery giveaway from one of my ALL TIME FAVOURITE butter producers, Ampersand Dairy. You lucky things. Plus! A recipe for rhubarb, brown butter and stem ginger blondies. Yes, you did read that right, omafg. Until next time, Flavour Fans x
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Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Flavour Nugget #63: Brown butter apple crumble with popcorn custard
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