Apple and Blackberry Crumble - Easy Seasonal Dessert

Well, here in unsunny London, the only seasonal fruits that are from anywhere close to local are the end of the seasons apples, and the first few fresh berries of the year just coming in, so I decided to combine the two into one very simple, but very tasty dessert to satisfy my wife's ever-present sweet tooth.

The other great thing about this recipe is that it's very adaptable.  If you have pears, or rhubarb, or figs, they would all be great in this recipe.  Just follow the same methods using whatever fruit you have handy!!

INGREDIENTS FOR CRUMBLE FILLING:
4 large apples
1 pear
2 clementines
1 vanilla bean
50 g sugar in the raw
125 blackberries
10ml Greens ginger wine (Optional)
15 g butter

INGREDIENTS FOR CRUMBLE TOPPING:
35 g Oats
35 g Plain Flour
35 g butter (softened slightly)
20 g sugar in the raw

For the crumble:
1) Peel, core and dice all of the fruit (except the blackberries, they would be hard to peel anyway)

2) Add to pot, squeeze the clementine juice over, add the butter, and place over medium heat

3) Take the vanilla pod, slice in half lengthwise, then run a knife down the inside to remove the seeds from inside (as above).  Don't discard the scraped pod however.  Add it to a pot of sugar or honey and let it sit for at least 48 hours and you will have an absolutely delicious vanilla sugar or vanilla honey for use whenever you want it.

4) Add vanilla and sugar to the pot and cook for 10 minutes until the apples start to give off their liquid.  Add the ginger wine and blackberries at this point and cook for 10 more minutes.
It should look like this now:

5) Put aside on counter to cool slightly while we make our crumble topping.

For the topping:
1) Mix together the flour and oats.
2) Add the butter and work it into the flour mix with your fingers till it starts to form a "breadcrumb-like" appearance
3) Add sugar and mix through
**Here's a quick video of the crumble making process just to show you the technique

4) Add the crumble filling to an individual ramekin, top with the crumble (as below) and bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes until the top is golden and the crumble filling is just starting to bubble up through.

5) Serve with your choice of custard, ice cream (I went with a lovely creme fraiche ice cream here), or, if you want to go simple, just some sweetened heavy cream.

6) Enjoy! My wife did...

"Life is uncertain.  Eat dessert first." ~ Ernestine Ulmer


"Stressed spelled backwards is desserts.  Coincidence?  I think not!" ~  Anonymous

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