Quinn Aldridge hadn’t meant to inherit anything. That’s what made it strange when a box arrived from a law office in New Hampshire with her name on it and a polite note informing her that she was now the official owner of a house she hadn’t known existed, thanks to a great-aunt she barely remembered meeting.
The house, as it turned out, was real. It stood at the edge of an old weathered orchard outside of Bellfield, a town that sounded fictional but was surprisingly present on GPS. The keys were heavy brass and came with exactly zero instructions.
So, on a mist-draped Thursday in October, Quinn took a personal day, drove north, and walked into her surprise inheritance armed only with a thermos of coffee and a healthy suspicion of creaky floorboards.
The house was more charming than haunted, though the wallpaper in the hallway seemed like it had been designed during a moment of deep personal crisis. There were shelves lined with books whose pages smelled like rain, and windows with ledges deep enough for a cat she didn’t yet own. And the kitchen—well, the kitchen felt oddly alive. Not in a paranormal way, more like it had expectations.
On the fridge, held up by a magnet shaped like a confused-looking duck, was a recipe card. “Apple Crumble,” it read in round, looping handwriting. Familiar somehow, though Quinn couldn’t place why. There was also a small note at the bottom, barely legible: “Use the ones from the south orchard.”
With little else to do while waiting for the locksmith to arrive (the front door had locked itself with a kind of antique smugness), she wandered out to the orchard. The trees stood like quiet sentinels, leaves rustling in agreement or amusement—hard to tell which. She picked four apples, tart and crisp, and headed back in.
She found everything she needed in the cupboards, which were suspiciously well-stocked for a house that had allegedly been empty for years. It didn’t take long: slicing, mixing, sprinkling the crumble topping—each step felt more like remembering than learning. The oven creaked as it warmed, and the smell that eventually filled the house was enough to quiet even her most practical instincts. There are few things you can distrust in the presence of warm cinnamon.
Quinn was just pulling the crumble from the oven—golden, bubbling, happy in its own right—when the locksmith finally arrived. His name was Dennis, and he was the kind of man who wore suspenders unironically and addressed houses as though they were sentient.
“Place like this?” he said, stepping into the kitchen. “You don’t own it. It owns you.”
“Encouraging,” Quinn replied with some skepticism, handing him a plate and a fork.
Dennis took a bite, raised his eyebrows, and said nothing for a moment. “You’re her niece, aren’t you” he finally said. “You’ve got her gift.”
She considered asking what that meant, but instead leaned against the counter and watched the steam curl from the crumble like it was telling its own story.
Later, after Dennis left with a firm handshake and a warning about the boiler’s mood swings, Quinn sat alone at the kitchen table, the house settling around her like an old sweater. The day outside was crisp and golden, the kind of afternoon that made you suspicious of your calendar’s priorities.
She didn’t have a plan yet. She had a job and a lease and a city life that would no doubt raise an eyebrow at the idea of weekend baking in an orchard-adjacent house with a personality. But still, she stayed a little longer.
The apples, she thought, had been exactly right.
Easy Apple Crumble Recipe
Serves: 4–6
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
For the filling:
- 4 medium apples (Granny Smith or Honeycrisp work well)
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (to thicken)
For the crumble topping:
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Prepare the apples:
- Peel, core, and slice the apples.
- In a mixing bowl, toss the apple slices with sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice, and flour.
- Spread the apple mixture evenly in a greased 8×8-inch baking dish.
- Make the crumble topping:
- In a separate bowl, mix flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
- Add cold butter and use your fingers or a pastry cutter to mix until it forms coarse crumbs.
- Assemble:
- Sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over the apples.
- Bake:
- Bake for 35–40 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and the filling is bubbling.
- Cool slightly and serve warm—ideally with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
