Blackberry & Plum Crumble.
It’s certainly the weather to start thinking about steaming hot puddings and rivers of creamy custard and one I love the best is a big bowl of mouth burning crumble.
There are a couple of things that make my heart flutter where a crumble is concerned.
The ratio of fruit filling to crumble topping has to be just right.
I like the crumble to be at least as thick as the filling. If I have to scratch through my custard to find the crumble, then I’m just not going to eat it.
The filling has to have just the right amount of sauce which I insist has spent enough time underneath the crumble to allow it to have leaked to the underlayer, making the underside moist and sweet.
Last but never least, the texture of the crumble needs to be chunky enough to be interesting but not too large that when cooking, it stays too doughy.
This recipe has all of these things so give it a go an enjoy your sweet life!
Perfect ratio of filling to crumble.
What You Need
500g Blackberries – Fresh or frozen – See Tip Box
400g Plums – Cut in half and stone removed – Fresh or frozen
300g Dark Brown Sugar
100g Butter – Cold & cut into cubes
1tsp Ground Cinnamon
1tsp Ground Ginger
1tsp Nutmeg
Pinch of salt
Make the filling a nice thick layer
How It’s Done
Heat the oven to 180c
Place the fruit into a bowl and add the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, pinch of salt and 150g of the dark brown sugar.
Give everything a really good mix
Pour the fruit into a deep oven proof dish and set it aside until needed.
In a bowl, place the flour, and the cubes of cold butter.
Make sure the butter is cold when cutting in
Using fingertips, a pastry cutter or a blunt knife, cut the butter into the flour until the flour resembles big breadcrumbs – See Tip Box
Pour in the remaining 150g of brown sugar and give it a good stir to mix the sugar in with the flour mixture.
Spoon the crumble toping all over the fruit, making sure to get it into the corners.
Cut in until it looks like large breadcrumbs
Place the dish onto an oven tray and into the hot oven to bake.
Let the crumble bake until the top is crispy and brown, the filling is bubbling around the edges and it’s piping hot in the centre - 50 -70 minutes– See Tip Box
Once cooked, let it sit for 10 minutes before eating
Spoon a nice thick layer of crumble on top of the fruit
Tip Box
Frozen fruit – No need to defrost the fruit when making this, just use it straight from the freezer.
Cutting in – Cutting in is a term used to describe a particular way of adding a fat to flour. In this case adding butter to flour. There are a few ways to do this.
Use fingers – Rubbing the butter and the flour in between finger tips until it resembles big crumbs.
Use knifes – Use a couple of butter knives to chop the butter into the flour until it resembles big crumbs.
Use pastry cutter – Use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour until it resembles large crumbs.
Cooking- 1) The cooking time is just a loose time, so be flexible with the time it takes to cook.
2) If the top gets too dark before the middle is piping hot, loosely cover with foil until finished cooking.
Ovens – All ovens vary so adjust the cooking time accordingly.
On a tray ready for the oven
