Apple Cranberry Sour Cream Streusel Crumble

This Apple desser is also a lovely idea for Christmas dinner. Additionally, if you are also cooking for Christmas Eve, this recipe is extremely easy to throw together and a real time saver. The creamy apple and cranberry layers are topped with crispy, sugary streusel with hints of caramel and cinnamon. The seasonal flavors of this dessert fit any Fall or Winter holiday. 

I always buy extra fresh cranberries at Thanksgiving time, finding them useful as a pretty garnish for various holiday dishes. Also, they seem to keep forever in the refrigerator. There they were looking fresh as ever a few weeks after Thanksgiving. I did not want to push my luck. It was time to use them up. Additionally, I had a few apples in the crisper. Other leftover ingredients included sour cream, heavy cream, walnuts, and brown sugar. Consequently, everything was thrown into this Apple Cranberry Sour Cream Streusel Crumble recipe.

SUBSTITUTION IDEAS:

Turn this Apple Cranberry Sour Cream Streusel Crumble into something else. Instead of brown sugar, you can substitute white granulated. Swap out the apples for pears. Exchange the walnuts for almonds, or better yet, almond flour. The sour cream is thinned a bit with cream before reading into the dish.  If you want to lighten up the fat and calories, use reduced-fat sour cream and half-and-half or a lighter version of the cream.

TIP: 

I had some leftover homemade cranberry sauce hanging out in my freezer. Consequently, I threw dollops of that on top of the fruit layer before covering it with the sour cream layers. A great idea, definitely giving this recipe a significant flavor boost. If you did not make homemade cranberry sauce this year, throw in any leftovers from the canned version. No judgment here. 

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Apple Cranberry Sour Cream Streusel Crumble

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, German

Keyword Apple Crumble

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Servings 8

Author Lora Wiley-Lennartz

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons lemon zest
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup ground walnuts
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
• 4 apples
• 1/2 cup fresh cranberries
• 1/3 – 1/2 cup leftover cranberry sauce optional
• 2 tablespoons apple brandy
• 2 cups sour cream
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

Instructions

1. Grease a 9 x 13 casserole dish and set aside.
2. Place the zest, flour, sugar, ground walnuts, and cinnamon in a bowl. Whisk to combine.
3. Cut the butter into the mixture in small pieces and use your hands to mix everything together, rubbing it between your palms to create streusel crumbs.
4. Cover the bowl loosely with clean kitchen towel and place in the refrigerator.
5. Preheat the oven to 425 F.
6. Peel and core the apples. cut them into rings a little less than 1/2 inch thick.
7. Lay the apple rings down into the prepared casserole dish.

8. Scatter the cranberries on top of the apple rings. 

   

9. If you have leftover cranberry sauce, dollop tablespoon fulls intermittently on top of the fruit.

   
10. Sprinkle apple brandy on top.
11. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream and heavy cream.
12. Spread the cream mixture over the fruit in the dish.
    
13. Remove the streusel from the refrigerator and scatter it evenly over the top of the cream layer.
    
14. Place the dish in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
15. turn the heat down to 350 degrees F and bake for another 10 minutes.
16. Remove from oven, let cool 15-20 minutes before cutting and serving.

Like this Apple Cranberry Sour Cream Streusel Crumble? Also, check out some of these other delicious recipes:

CRANBERRY LINZER TORT

ALLSPICE MACARONS WITH CRANBERRY CREAM CHEESE FROSTING FILLING