Blackberry & Apple Crumble

Bramble & Apple Crumble is one of my favourite seasonal indulgences and fortunately, for a couple of months the primary ingredients are available for free, somewhere nearby. It is the quintessential September pudding, so I thought we should share our simple traditional recipe.

Ingredients

• Apples 4-5 large cookers (you can mix with eaters and adjust the sugar accordingly)
• Blackberries, probably about a mug-full.
• Flour 250g
• Rolled Oats 150g
• Natural Unrefined Brown Sugar 50g

Method

1. Peal & core the Apples then cut them into slices.
2. Lay the Apple slices into an oven-proof bowl. Then sprinkle on some Blackberries to form another layer. Sprinkle a small amount of Brown Sugar onto the fruit (not too much, you want to enjoy the sharpness of fruit, contrasting with the sweeter crumble). Repeat until the bowl is full to near the top.
3. Turn on the oven, 180 degrees Centigrade.
4. Now make your crumble topping by rubbing together the flour and butter in a bowl, then mix in the Rolled Oats and the remaining Brown Sugar according to taste.
5. Pour the crumble on to the top of the fruit. Poke it down with your fingers but make sure that it piles up proud of the bowl edge (it will sink down during cooking).
6. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Centigrade for 40 minutes or until lightly browned on top.

Serve piping hot with cream / creme fresh / ice cream / custard, according to taste. If you somehow fail to consume this tangy treat in one assault, it is equally delicious cold the following day (for breakfast perhaps).

YUM!

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Oodles More Tasty Recipes in Here

Round and Round the Mulberry Tree

We have just returned from a holiday in beautiful sunny Devon. While there, we were fortunate to notice a Mulberry tree in Salcombe.

At first glance it did not look like there were many fruits on the ancient looking tree but I sent my daughter (the official taster) to check and on closer inspection we realised that a lot of the fruit was just hidden under the leaves.

The red Mulberries are unripe, they look similar to Raspberries but felt harder; they also taste less interesting and are slightly tart. We picked a couple to try but the darker black/red fruits are far sweeter and delightfully palatable.

I imagine that Mulberries are now a fairly rare and I'm sure that with a little research some interesting traditional recipes could be turned up.  I may experiment with the local tree in a Southampton park. One thing is clear though, it would be much easier to pick Mulberries off a bush than a tree.