Crumble

The oat mixture makes a delicious crust for the bottom—and a tasty crumble on top. Lemon perks up the blueberry filling.

Cranberries, pears, and apples form a sweetly irresistible autumn trinity beneath a crisp oat topping.

Brilliant swirls of raspberry jam and a crunchy crumb topping make this cake far prettier—and tastier—than most.

This recipe was created by chef Geraldine Ferraro of the Four Swallows Restaurant on Bainbridge Island in Washington. It's part of a special menu she created for Epicurious's Wine.Dine.Donate program.

A favorite from the '70s, pumpkin cheesecake is even more fun as a crumbly, nutty bar.

The "crumble" in this case is a buttery shortbread topping.

This comforting side dish is a love letter to the sweet tooth in all of us: Unpeeled sweet potatoes and bananas are roasted together, then peeled, pureed, and topped with a crunchy pecan streusel.

Perfect at the end of a fall meal. Top the dessert with sweetened whipped cream, or team it with scoops of vanilla ice cream.

Crumbles are traditional family desserts that can be prepared with almost any fruit. This sophisticated rendition includes toasted almonds in the topping for extra crunch.

You can bake this apple oatmeal crumble (with the oven rack in the upper third of the oven) and roast the tomatoes (on the rack in the lower third) for this low-fat menu at the same time.

This recipe was developed from a banana muffin that had a similar crumbly top. When I saw Stephan eat the top and pick out the banana chunks, I realized a new dessert would be healthier, moister, and better appreciated. I was right, but be sure to serve this very warm and don't use very old, overripe bananas — the taste becomes a little intense for children. Mash and freeze such overripe bananas in a plastic container for a banana bread or other similar confections.

The clever topping is made with a cake mix.

This cake keeps well and feeds a crowd. The "crumble" is simply a middle layer of pecans, brown sugar, butter and cocoa.

Long ago on our honeymoon, we stayed at the Connaught Hotel in London, a bastion of comfortable English tradition. They served what I considered then, and still do, the finest of fruit crumbles. It was served very hot and had a thick golden crumb topping that was baked on top of perfectly cooked and sweetened fruit. Although the crumb topping was crisp on top, it remained pleasantly soft in the middle.