Prep: 25 mins
Cook: 30 mins
Serves: 4
From apples and pears to plums or rhubarb there is surely a crumble for everyone's palate.
For me the best has and always will be apple, possibly with a handful of blackberries thrown in for good luck.
Like the fruit there are also lots of different crumbles to choose from, plain, nutty, cinnamon or oaty. Why not have fun with different combinations, at school a lot of the children were very happy to just make crumble, no fruit just crumble!
Ingredients:
150g plain flour, or 100g plain flour, 50g ground almonds
125g chilled, unsalted butter, cut into cubes
35g demerara sugar
35g caster sugar, plus extra for the fruit as required
About 900g fresh fruit, stoned or cored as necessary and cut into chunks – cooking apples should be softened in a pan with a tablespoon of water and a little sugar first
Handful of porridge oats / chopped nuts (optional)
Combine the flour, ground almonds (if using), and butter in a large bowl, and rub with your fingertips, until the mixture resembles very coarse breadcrumbs.
Add the sugars and stir through, then sprinkle with a little cold water and rake through with a fork until you have a lumpy, crumbly mixture.
Place in the fridge until you're ready to bake.
Meanwhile, put your prepared fruit in a saucepan, with enough water to cover the base, bring to the boil, then simmer covered until cooked through and sweeten with sugar if necessary.
Spoon into the base of a lightly greased, shallow baking dish.
Place the crumble over the fruit and sprinkle with oats or nuts if using.
Bake at 200°C for about 30 mins, until golden and bubbling, and serve slightly cooled.