One of the advantages of an allotment plot with a slightly overgrown bramble hedge is an abundant supply of blackberries to pick and eat. The slight trouble is that there seems to be a never ending supply and a raft of recipes is needed to consume them all. I hate to see them wasted. Enter the Blackberry and Apple crumble – a good old fail safe pudding. We’ve got a couple of apple trees at the plot too, so it uses some of our own delicious apples too. Especially the early ones which have to be eaten quickly as they don’t keep.
Crumble is well loved and made by many, and this recipe is just my standard crumble. Seems to go down well with the family.
- 125g plain flour
- 75g unsalted butter
- 75g caster sugar
- 50g porridge oats
- 5-6 early apples
- 80g blackberries
- 100g caster sugar
- 25g unsalted butter
First peel, core and cut up the apples into small slices. Heat the butter and gently cook the apples, adding the sugar, and continuing to cook the apples until they are soft. Once the apples are soft, add the blackberries and cook for a couple of minutes until the fruit is soft (but still partially whole) and releasing the gorgeous redeployment red juices.
To make the crumble topping, lightly rub the butter and flour together until it resembles breadcrumbs. Alternatively whizz them in the food processor for a few seconds – Which is often the easiest option hurry trying to quickly knock up a pudding for a hungry family. Once you have breadcrumb like mix, stir in the sugar and porridge oats
Spoon the fruit into a 23cm oven proof dish and top with the crumble mix. Put in the oven at 180 degrees centigrade for half an hour or until lightly brown on top. Finally enjoy with custard or cream!
Spade Fork Spoon 