Fruit Crumble and Crumble Topping
Crumble Topping and Fruit Crumble
Steve Lister
Fruit crumble is one of those comfort foods that you love eating with custard or cream or ice-cream on a dark, winter evening. As the name suggests, is a crumbly topping for covering many types of seasonal fruits. It is a mix of brown or white sugar, flour/oats, butter and some flavouring like cinnamon/ginger powder/mace/mixed spice/nuts. Other ingredients can be added as needed/indicated by the filling in question. It is worth making extra and keeping some in the freezer, in a sealed plastic bag, to use when you are in a hurry. If you have crumble mix ready, and you want to make a quick dessert, all you have to do is; drain a tin of fruit, lay the fruit in a pie dish, mix the drained juice with a little flour and return it to the fruit (this thicken the juices during cooking). Then spread the crumble topping over the fruit and bake as given below. Exact proportion of flour/sugar/butter can vary as per personal choice. See Apple Crumble, Apple and Blueberry Crumble and Apple and Mixed Berries Crumble.
This amount is enough for about 450 gm. of fruit.
Ingredients
1 cup (coffee mug) of plain flour
1 cup (coffee mug) of sugar
1/2 cup (coffee mug) of margarine
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
Fruit of your choice; here I've used about 450 gm. of blackberries, but apples work really well too.
Instructions
Make sure that everything is nice and cold as heat melts the margarine and stops it mixing properly to make a good crumble.
Place all ingredients in a large bowl.
Mix with a fork, a sort of press in and stir around motion, to create bread crumbs like mix. This will take a little bit of effort, keep going. Alternatively, you can rub the ingredients together with your fingertips, until all the margarine has been mixed in thoroughly and the mix looks crumbly.
Place a layer of your fruit, cooked or uncooked as per your recipe, in an oven-proof dish.
Cover with a good sprinkle of the crumble mix (this helps to sweeten and make the sauce).
Put another layer of fruit and then finish on top with plenty of the crumble mix.
Cook at about 180C/350/Gas Mark 4, for 30-45 minutes, until the fruit is softened and bubbling and the topping nicely browned
Serve with custard or fresh cream or ice-cream .
Notes
Suggestions for fruit fillings; dessert or cooking apples, pears (peeled, cored and diced), blackberries and apple, raspberries, strawberries and apple, gooseberries (washed, topped and tailed), peeled, stoned and dice peaches or nectarines, plums-stone removed,) rhubarb stalks-washed and trimmed.
