Apple and blackberry crumble

Legend has it that when St. Michael the archangel kicked Lucifer out of heaven, he landed on a blackberry bush and, ahem, weed all over it. This piece of folklore states therefore that blackberries should not be eaten past Michaelmas (29th September) for this very reason, but I see it as all a better excuse to embrace blackberry season while it’s still here.

You can’t get much more English with a pudding than you can with a fruit crumble. Go to any self respecting pub with a kitchen serving Sunday lunches and you’ll no doubt find crumble and custard as an option on the dessert menu. This dish is just as easy to make at home with ingredients you’re likely to already have in your cupboard. Opinion can be mixed around the choice of fruit, topping and accompaniment used. Some people say to cook the fruit before adding to the crumble proper (good if you like your fruit very soft, but not for me), others like adding all manner of extras to the crumble mix, such as nuts or oats. This recipe here is about as traditional and simple as it gets, with a tiny bit of cinnamon added for good measure.

First, the fruit. Here I’m using apples and blackberries, a very traditional combination, but you can use all sorts of other seasonal fruit as long as you end up with roughly the same weight of fruit (apple and pear is a good combination, or one of my former housemates used to make her crumble with tinned peaches). If you’re using apple, the question then becomes: eating or cooking apples? Personally I see a place for both depending on your taste and ultimately what’s in your fruit bowl - for a more tart finish I’d go for a good Bramley cooking apple, but if there are a few Royal Galas going spare what’s to stop me from using them instead for a sweeter taste.

The crumble mixture itself is a very simple mix of unsalted butter (always cold out of the fridge), caster sugar and plain/all purpose flour. The key is in the technique - using just your fingertips rub the butter into the flour and sugar until the resulting mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. By the end of the process your palms should still be clean - that’s how we were taught it at school! The quantities given in this recipe result in a ratio of about ⅓ crumble mix to ⅔ fruit. If that is absolute heresy to you (my mother is of the opinion that there should be at least as much crumble as there is fruit, if not more) then feel free to double the quantities; just keep cooking until the top is a lovely golden brown.

Finally, once the crumble is assembled and baked, emanating that delicious smell that only crumble makes throughout the house, the final area of debate remains: what to put on top of it? Despite what the above photo depicts, I am a cold custard girl through and through (I could very happily eat it out of the container with a spoon given the chance). Of course, hot custard, cream or ice cream are all perfectly valid options depending on your preference - we had run out of custard the last time I made this, so I settled for a nice scoop of Carte D’Or. You can prepare the crumble somewhat in advanced, but I’d advise making and eating it on the same day. If you really do need to prepare earlier than that, store the crumble mix and prepared fruit separately until ready to bake. Reheating the crumble tends to make the topping a bit gluey, so it’s best to just devour in a single sitting.

Apple and blackberry crumble

Serves: 3 to 4 | Total time: 25 mins preparation, 40 mins cooking | Source: vicki cooks veggie

Ingredients

• 120g (4oz) plain/all purpose flour

• 60g (2oz) white sugar (ideally caster, but granulated will do in a pinch)

• 60g (2oz) unsalted butter, cold

• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon

• 600-700g (1lb 5oz - 1lb 8oz) apples, either cooking or eating (see notes above)

• 150g (5oz) blackberries

• 3 tbsp soft brown sugar

• You will also need an ovenproof baking dish around 30cm/12” by 20cm/8” in size or thereabouts

Method

• If you want to cook your crumble straight away, preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F). If you’re making it in advance, skip this step.

• Get a medium sized mixing bowl and add the flour, white sugar and butter. Using clean hands, rub the ingredients together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

• Stir in ¼ tsp cinnamon, then set the crumble topping aside.

• Now it’s time to prepare the fruit. Peel the apples and chop them into bitesized pieces, then add them to an ovenproof dish large enough to hold all of the fruit. Wash the blackberries and add them into the dish whole.

• Add 3 tbsp soft brown sugar to the fruit and using a spoon or your hands, mix well.

• Tip the crumble mixture over the fruit and ensure it’s spread evenly. Bake your crumble in the oven for 40 minutes, or until the topping turns a light golden brown. Serve with custard (ideally), cream or ice cream.

  (If you want to bake your crumble later, leave it covered in a cool place until ready. Only leave it a few hours, otherwise the crumble mix may start to absorb some of the fruit juices and go soggy)