This is adapted from a Mary Berry recipe, and scored 10/10 with Olwyn. It’s crumble meets tart, basically. You can vary the fruit which is the adapting part. You will need a 11″/28cm diameter tart tin, preferably loose bottomed, although we have successfully made it in a ceramic quiche dish.
First make the pastry:
- 225g plain flour
- 125g cold butter cut into cubes
Rub together with your fingers until it looks like breadcrumbs or do the same thing in a food processor which takes 10 seconds. Stir in
- 30g caster sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
Mix gently until it forms a dough. You may need to add a splash of water. Tip it onto a floured work surface and roll out about 3mm thick. Line your tin, pushing well into the corners. Trim the edges and prick the base with a fork. Put in the fridge to chill for 15 minutes.
Now make the filling. Here you have a choice of fruits. You could use apple and blackberry, apple and rhubarb or as we did, peach and raspberry. All are delicious.
- Fruit: 1 jar of peaches, drained plus one bag of frozen raspberries; or 4 bramley apples peeled and chopped plus 275g blackberries; or 4 bramley apples and 300g rhubarb, chopped
- 100-150g caster sugar depending how sweet the fruit already is
Add fruit and sugar to a saucepan and heat gently. Add a tablespoon or two of water only if it looks like catching. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes. Wise people start with the harder fruits and add the softer fruits halfway through if you want to retain the shapes. When al is cooked and soft, set aside to cool.
Now make the crumble topping. Same as the pastry:
- 175g plain flour
- 100g butter
Rub or whizz.
Mix in
- 50g rolled oats
- 100g demerera sugar
- 50g chopped hazlenuts or pistachio nuts
Now back to the pastry: Heat the oven to 180C (fan). Line the pastry with baking parchment and add baking beans. Cook for 15 minutes. Removes the baking beans and pastry, lower the temperature to 140C and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove and cool while you prepare the filling.
Separate the fruit from the juice by draining through a sieve. Keep the juice, you will need it. Add the fruit to the pastry base. Cover with the crumble topping and return to the oven for 25 minutes. Depending on your oven, you may need to increase the temperature slightly but be careful, you want the crumble topping to be brown but you don’t want the pastry burnt.
Put the reserved juice in a saucepan and boil away until reduced and syrupy. Serve slices of crumble tart with the juice syrup, creme fraiche and ice cream.