Making the perfect fruit crumble is not as easy as you might first think. Too much flour and it will turn out more like a powder, and too much margarine and it will be more like a cobbler or a pastry topping to a pie.
When making your crumble mixture, whether by hand or by using a food processor, you should aim for a crumb texture that is almost starting to stick together. Some recipes suggest that you include some crumbled digestive biscuits or porridge oats, but to be honest, we don't really see the point in that.
For the filling, you can just use cooking apples (such as Bramley's) if you like, with a sprinkling of cinnamon. We have suggested adding in some blackberries and raspberries, which not only provide lots of flavour, but they add a nice red summer fruit colour as well.
Recipe Ingredients
225 grams / 8 oz of plain white flour
100 grams / 4 oz of cooking margarine or softened butter
75 grams / 3 oz of granulated sugar
2 teaspoons of cinnamon powder
For the Filling
400 grams / 14 oz of cooking apples (Bramley's are perfect for this)
200 grams of mixed summer fruits, such as raspberries, blackberries and blackcurrants (these can be frozen)
50 grams of caster sugar
Method
Combine the flour, margarine (or butter if you prefer), sugar and cinnamon powder to form a crumb-like texture. You can either do this by hand or by using a food processor.
To prepare the filling for this recipe, peel, core and dice the apples, Mix with the sugar and the summer fruits, and spread this fruity goodness on the base of your oven dish, adding a couple of tablespoons of water. Finally, top your fruit with your crumble mixture and a sprinkled of granulated sugar, and cook in a preheated oven (180°C) for 30 to 40 minutes.
To ensure an even cook, it is a good idea to turn the dish around at least once during its time in the oven. We like eating fruit crumble while it is still really hot, with a great big spoonful of vanilla ice cream on the side, or maybe some custard.
Making the perfect fruit crumble is not as easy as you might first think. Too much flour and it will turn out more like a powder, and too much margarine and it will be more like a cobbler or a pastry topping to a pie.
