Plums and apples go so well together and here they are used in a crumble — just right for this time of year when summer is nearly gone.
Adding cinnamon and lemon to the fruit give it a lot of flavour and, adding rolled oats and demerara sugar to the buttery crumble really do make a difference to the taste.
- Preparation time: 25 minutes
- Cooking time: 30 minutes
- Ingredients
- For the filling
- 4 large ripe plums
- 340g (12 oz) Bramley or dessert apples (about 2 apples)
- 40g (1½ oz) light muscovado sugar/soft light brown sugar (3 tbsp)
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ lemon zest only
- For the crumble
- 115g (4 oz) plain/all-purpose flour (⅔ cup + 2 tbsp)
- 70g (2½ oz) butter, chilled and cut into cubes (¼ cup or ½ stick, plus 1 tbsp)
- 40g (1½ oz) rolled oats (¾ cup)
- 55g (2 oz) demerara sugar (¼ cup)
- To serve
- Hot custard or vanilla ice cream make a good accompaniment.
- You will also need a shallow, ovenproof serving dish.
- Method
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) (gas 6).
- For the filling
- Halve the plums, remove the stones and then roughly chop. Place them in a large pan.
- Peel, core and roughly chop the apples and add to the plums.
- Now add the sugar, cinnamon, lemon zest, and 3 tablespoons of water. Stir, cover the pan and heat gently until the apples are softened, about 5 minutes.
- Spoon into the ovenproof dish and set to one side.
- For the crumble
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and rub in the butter, using your fingertips, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
- Now mix in the oats and sugar and then scatter over the fruit.
- Bake for 25–30 minutes until the crumble is golden and the fruit is bubbling round the edge.
- Serve immediately.