Blackberry and apple crumble

I belong to a gym where I tend to do yoga and pilates classes and laze around in the pool, jacuzzi and steam room. I rarely actually go to the gym itself because if I go running I would rather be outside. However one of the great things about it is that is less than half a mile away, and even better, the route is lined with blackberry bushes. That means that I tend to go to the gym a lot more often this time of year and generally armed with a plastic tub or two for the way home. And sometimes I just go and pick the blackberries and skip the exercise entirely…

Blackberries are great for jam and particularly good in crumble with the season’s apples. An apple and blackberry crumble is one of the first signs of autumn and it’s delicious. This recipe for the crumble topping is my absolute favourite. It is deliciously light and crunchy and relatively good for you compared with a standard crumble topping.

Recipe:

Prepare your fruit however you normally would. I like to part cook the apples in the microwave before adding the blackberries and sugar and add very little extra liquid. How much sugar you add will depend on how sweet you like your crumble – I like it quite tart.

Crumble Topping ingredients:

75g plain wholewheat flour

50g butter or margarine

75g porridge oats

50g demerara sugar

3 to 4 tablespoons of sunflower oil

Method:

Rub the fat in to the flour and add the porridge oats and demerara sugar. Add enough oil to coat the crumbs but not enough to make it clumpy and greasy. Pour over the fruit and make sure it covers the fruit evenly. Do not press it down.

Cook for approximately 30 minutes or until golden brown and the fruit is bubbling up.

Enjoy hot or warm with custard, ice cream, cream or creme fraiche. Or just on its own. A true taste of autumn.

Categories: Baking, Desserts, Fruit picking, Lifestyle, Recipes

Tags: autumn, baking, blackberries, blackberry and apple, crumble, dessert, foraging, fruit, fruit picking, hedgerow, oats, recipe, seasonal cooking