Cakes & Bakes: Spiced plum crumble

Our garden has an abundance of fruit at the moment; especially apples, damsons and plums. The plums are beginning to go over and rot on the tree, but that’s OK – butterflies, wasps and other insects have been feasting.

Every time I walk past the tree, on my way to the compost heap or washing line, I grab a couple of the low-hanging fruits. A quick snack on the move! Yesterday, I took a colander out into the garden and picked as many of the just-ripe plums as I could reach. I had in mind to make a spiced plum crumble.

The fruit was given just a hint of flavour with some mixed spice. You could try, instead, a smidgen of cinnamon, clove or ground ginger, or leave the spice out entirely – whatever is your taste preference.

I like a chunky crumble topping that doesn’t go all wet & claggy from the fruit syrup. Simply squeeze handfuls of the mixture in the palm of your hand and gently prise them apart until you get the size of morsel you prefer. Adding oats and hazelnuts to the flour/butter mix helps create the crunchiness and gives a nutty taste. Chopped almonds, Brazil nuts or pecans will work equally well.

It’s such a hearty, comforting, autumnal dessert; served piping hot with a pouring of creamy custard or dollop of cool, thick cream… mmmmmmm!

Save my spiced plum recipe to Pinterest to try later!

Spiced plum crumble

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Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Ingredients

For the plums

1 kg/2.2lbs plums; washed halved & de-stoned
100 g/3½oz Demerara sugar
½ tsp mixed spice

For the crumble topping

125 g/4½oz plain flour
125 g/4½oz rolled oats
50 g/1¾oz hazelnuts; roasted & roughly chopped
50 g/1¾oz Demerara sugar
pinch of salt
100 g/3½oz cold butter cubed

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas mark 6

For the plums

Put the plums, sugar and mixed spice into a saucepan over a low heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. This should take no more than 10 minutes
Spoon the mixture into a large, oven-proof casserole dish. Set aside while you make the crumble mixture

For the crumble topping

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, oats, hazelnuts, sugar and salt
Rub in the cold butter until the mixture is lumpy
Turn out the mixture on to the spiced plums and spread evenly over the top. It's not important to cover the entire surface
Bake for 45 minutes to an hour - until the topping begins to turn a golden brown colour

Serve with thick pouring cream or hot custard

Keyword crumble, fruit crumble, plums

Cakes & Bakes: Apple and sultana crumble

When I was buying ingredients for last week’s apple and raisin puff pastry tart I needed two cooking apples. However, the Bramley apples in the supermarket were being sold in packs of four. I’m making an apple and sultana crumble this week to use up the two that were left over.

I may have mentioned before that fruit crumble isn’t one of Justin’s favoured puddings – he thinks the crumble topping is too often soggy, floury and not very nice – especially if too thick or a bit undercooked.

I think my crumble topping recipe is none of those things; it forms large, crunchy, nutty morsels.

Sprinkle granulated sugar over the top of it just before it goes into the oven for extra sweetness and crunch. You can serve it with thick, cold cream, hot creamy custard or a scoop of vanilla ice cream – they’re all good!

Click here to pin the recipe for later!

Apple and sultana crumble

2017-05-17 12:55:12

Serves 4

Cook Time

20 min

Cook Time

20 min

For the fruit filling

2 Bramley (or other cooking) apples, peeled, cored & roughly chopped
25g/¾oz butter
100g/3½oz sultanas
50g/1¾oz Demerara sugar

For the crumble topping

50g/1¾oz plain flour
50g/1¾oz porridge oats
50g/1¾oz flaked almonds
50g/1¾oz Demerara sugar
75g/2⅔oz cold butter, cubed

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over a medium heat, melt the 25g of butter
Add the chopped apples, sultanas and Demerara sugar and stir until the apples are just beginning to soften (about 5-10 minutes)
Put the mixture into a greased baking/pie dish
In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, oats, almonds and Demerara sugar
Add the cold, cubed butter and rub into the dry ingredients - but not to much - you want the mixture to have quite large lumps
Spoon the crumble evenly over the apple and sultana mixture so that it's completely covered
Sprinkle a little golden granulated sugar over the top for added crunch (optional)
Put the dish into the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes or until the crumble topping turns a lovely golden brown

Notes

Serve with custard, thick pouring cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Rhubarb, apple & cardamom crumble

In a recent post, we mentioned that Justin wasn’t a massive fan of fruit crumble – there was utter disbelief amongst some of our readers! We’ve talked through it over recent weeks – it’s good to get things out in the open. To be precise, he doesn’t like a soggy zone between the fruit & browned topping. The merest hint of uncooked, wet flour and there’s real distress.

Now we’ve identified the true cause of his phobia, we’ve been able to work through it together (with the help of a crumble counsellor) and have experimented with different methods. We don’t add any water to the fruit or pre-cook it any more – and top with thinner layers of crumble mix to produce crispy, crunchy perfection. There’s no stopping him now – strawberry, pear, plum – bring it on!

So, for this week’s Cakes & Bakes we’ve got a crumble – rhubarb, apple & cardamom crumble.

The cardamom adds a distinctive and really interesting twist…

…and chopped almonds in the topping also worked well.

So, the only decision left to make – custard, cream or ice cream. It was a custard kind of day for us!!

Second helpings for Justin – we really have moved forward from those dark, crumble-free years!

Pin the recipe for later!

Rhubarb, apple & cardamom crumble

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Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Servings 2

Ingredients

2 large stalks of rhubarb
1 Bramley apple
50 g/1¾oz demerara sugar
3 cardamom pods
100 g/3½oz plain flour
25 g/1oz rolled oats
10 g/⅓oz almonds roughly chopped
75 g/½oz cold butter cubed

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas mark 6
Remove the cardamom seeds from their husks and grind finely with a pestle & mortar
Slice the rhubarb into 2½cm/1inch slices
Peel, core & chop the apple into 1cm/⅓ cubes
Put the rhubarb, apple, half the ground cardamom and 2tbs of the sugar into a medium-sized bowl and mix until the sugar coats the fruit evenly
Decant the mixture into a 30cm x 15cm oven-proof dish
In a medium-sized bowl, add the flour, oats, sugar, chopped almonds, butter and remainder of the cardamom. Rub in the ingredients with your fingers until they resemble coarse, lumpy breadcrumbs
Cover the sugared fruit evenly with the crumble mixture
Cook for 20-30 minutes until the top has begun to brown and fruity syrup is bubbling up
Allow to cool slightly and serve with custard or vanilla ice cream

rhubarb, apple & cardamom crumble ingredients

Keyword apple, cardamom, crumble, fruit crumble, rhubarb