APPLE, BLACKBERRY AND PLUM CRUMBLE OR IS IT CRISP

Good Morning to you,

Two years ago, we decided to plant some miniature fruit trees in our garden.  One of the fruit trees we chose, was a Plum tree. We did everything to welcome the new Plum tree into our garden. We dug a large hole, added feed, placed the tree in it's new home, added a stake for support, filled in with soil and we remembered to heel-in the tree, and of course, we watered it well.  We knew that the first year, would be a settling-in year for the young tree, so this year, when Spring arrived, we waited with great anticipation for the Plum tree to be smothered in beautiful blossom..... but do you know, not one blossom showed it's face, as the weather was so awful.  We have had lots of  leaves on the tree, but no fruit, so hopefully,  next Spring, the weather will be kinder to us and we can enjoy beautiful blossom, followed by fruit  to  make pies and crumbles.

Which brings me to what I am making today,

What would you do, if you had two Bramley Apples left in your store cupboard?

Would you make apple sauce?

A tinsy, winsy apple pie?

A crepe stuffed with  apple and cinnamon?  

These are all very nice, but, it is Autumn and one of our favourite Autumnal puddings is,

an Apple, Blackberry and Plum Crumble.  I had the two Bramley apples in my store cupboard, some blackberries in the freezer, so I just needed to pop out and buy a punnet of plums.

I've made a cup of coffee and I have chosen my music to listen to,

and it is, Fleetwood Mac.  Now this is the original line up with Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and Jeremy Spencer. Do you remember the instrumental 'Albatross', it is such a beautiful piece of music. 

My favourite LP of Fleetwood Mac's  would have to be Rumours. Do you know I could not find the Cd cover,  I found the Cd itself, but not the cover.  I just know it is going to turn up in the most oddest place.  I am going to be looking for something else, and I will find the cover instead. Does that ever happen to you? I thought it would be fun to show you this 1968 Cd cover..... oh my, how young we all were.

The music is playing, so it is time to pop on my apron and organise my ingredients.

INGREDIENTS

CRUMBLE OR CRISP

225g  plain flour

110g salted butter

50g  rolled oats

75g demerara sugar

1 tablespoon of cinnamon

FILLING

2 large Bramley apples

300g blackberries

450g plums

3 tablespoons of sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

METHOD

180C oven temperature

1 large pie dish, 
25cm (10") wide and  8cm (3") deep

Place the flour and salted butter in to
 a food processor

and

pulse 6 or 7 times,
until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs

Place the oats, sugar and cinnamon

in a large bowl

with the pulsed flour and butter

and mix together.

Set aside until needed

FILLING

Wash and dry the blackberries

Wash, de-stone and chop the plums
 into bite size pieces

Peel, core and chop the apples,
I tend to chop them roughly the same size
as the plums

Toss the apples in lemon juice
to stop them turning brown

Place the fruit in a pie dish

and sprinkle over the Demerara sugar

Cover with the crumble mix

and 
bake for 1 hour 20 minutes
or
until the crumble is golden brown
and you can see the fruit juices
bubbling around the side of the dish.

enjoy on it's own
or with

cream.

Doesn't this crumble say Autumn to you, with it's beautiful rich colours.

Now, I serve mine with cream, but there is a certain someone in our family, who feels that the traditional way to enjoy crumble, is served with custard.  I do agree, as I love custard with crumble, but do you know, it is not the homemade custard which I enjoy the most, you are going to be surprised to learn, that it is Bird's Instant Custard!  I think it is a relic of my childhood, as I love the thick consistency and I especially love the skin which forms on the top of the custard as the custard cools. 

I wonder, what are your favourite instant foods, which you loved as a child and still enjoy now?  It will be fun to hear about them.

Before I go, I wanted to mention a couple of things to you. Firstly, that you will have noticed that I have used salted butter for the crumble.  This was because I had a packet in my fridge, but normally I would use unsalted butter. Having used salted butter, I did not add any salt to the crumble. Secondly, this is a large amount of topping for the crumble, but that is how we enjoy our crumble, lots of fruit and lots of crumble.  You can reduce the amount of crumble if you prefer.

Oh yes, there is one other thing, I always taste a little of the fruit to check to see how tart the fruit is.  I am glad I did, as the plums I used were quite tart, so I added a little extra sugar.  

So take care and I will see you on Sunday,

This week I will be joining,

Yvonne at StoneGable

and

Miz Helen's Country Cottage