Ingredients

Fruit base

• 30g sugar (demerara gives a nicer flavour, but caster or even granulated will be fine)
• 30g butter
• 4-5 apples
• 1 tsp (or 1tbsp!) of cinnamon

Crumble topping

• 200g plain white flour
• 100g butter (at room temperature to soften it up)
• 100g demerara sugar (caster sugar will be fine too, but granulated is too coarse)
• 50g oats (optional)

Directions

Fruit base

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 5 (190C/380F).
2. Peel and core the apples, and then cut them into smallish cubes ~3cm in size.
3. Melt 30g of sugar and 30g of butter into a pan on a medium heat. Once the sugar has dissolved (or at least lost its grittiness), add the applies and cinnamon. Keep on the heat for 6-8 minutes. Add in the softer fruits if you’re using those - so sultanas, plums etc. Turn off the heat after a further 3-5 mins.

Crumble topping

1. In a mixing bowl add the butter and flour. Use your fingers to work the butter into the flour such that it takes on the yellow hue. Then add the sugar.
2. Put the fruit into the bottom of a pie/flan dish, and then using your hands sprinkle fistfuls of the crumble mix over the fruit. It should be covered but doesn’t have to be even.
3. Put the dish into the oven for 40 minutes or until browning slightly on top.

Can be eaten warm or cold. Store covered (with foil or clingfilm) in the fridge.

Variations

• You can use pretty much any fruit. Apple or pear work best as a foundation, and I’ve made it with varying combinations of sultanas, ginger (cut into tiny cubes a few mm in size), plums, and blackberries.
• You can add 50-100g of oats to the crumble mix prior to baking
• When making the crumble mix you can add a little more butter (perhaps 10-15g) before adding the sugar. This would make the ratio of flour:butter:sugar 2:1.15:1 instead of 2:1:1. This give a slightly more crunchy and biscuity crumble rather than a dryer powdery one.