Crumble is one of the most classic dessert recipes, and it’s one that barely requires any effort.
After going through many reviews of different crumble recipes, I decided to bake Raymond Blanc’s apple and blackberry crumble as it had so many five-star reviews on the BBC Good Foord page.
User MamaJo said: “Best ever crumble recipe. The crunch of the crumble is glorious. My dinner guests loved it too.”
The description of the recipe reads: “Make this seasonal apple and blackberry crumble for a comforting family pud. Pre-cooking the topping will make it extra-crispy, while also retaining the texture of the fruit.”
In total, it took me 10 minutes to prep and around 25 minutes to cook and bake it.
Ingredients
For the crumble topping
120g plain flour
60g caster sugar
60g unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into small pieces
For the fruit compote
300g Braeburn apples
30g unsalted butter
30g demerara sugar
115h blackberries
One quarter teaspoon ground cinnamon
Custard or vanilla ice cream, to serve
Method
I started by weighing out all of the ingredients and chopping what needed to be chopped like the apples.
Next, I preheated the oven to 170C fan before tipping the plain flour and caster sugar into a large bowl.
To the bowl, I added the unsalted butter, then rubbed it into the flour using my fingertips to make a light breadcrumb-like texture. This took me around five minutes to do so. Make sure not to overwork it or the crumble will become heavy.
I then sprinkled the mixture evenly over a baking tray and baked it until lightly coloured. I left them in the oven for 15 minutes.
While the mixture was in the oven, I got to work on the compote. To do so I added the butter and Demerara sugar to a medium saucepan and melted them together over a medium heat. I cooked it for three minutes as this is when the mixture started to turn to a light caramel.
After, I added in the apples and cook for around eight minutes. While the recipe only calls for a further three minutes of cooking, I found that I had to leave it longer as the apples were still quite hard.
Next, I added the blackberries and the ground cinnamon, before cooking for three minutes more.
Then I removed the pan from the heat and let the compote continue to cook for two to three minutes.
Once the crumble topping was ready, I spooned some of the warm fruit into a small nine-inch ovenproof dish, topped it with the crumble mix, and then reheated it in the oven for 15 minutes.
I found that this recipe was just enough to make two crumbles in the dish size I used, however, I would probably double the crumble topping mixture next time.
While the recipe recommends serving the crumble with vanilla ice cream, I opted for custard.
The crumble tasted incredible. The topping was beautifully crisp while the fruit compote had the right amount of sweetness.
