In France, crumbles are the epitome of British class. Serve it for dessert and you will pass for a cosmopolitan and trendy host. Over here, crumbles are all about comforting warmth and homely, cosy food. This recipe fully embraces the British vision, mixing deliciously tart and juicy plums with sweet pears and warming spices, all tucked up under a thick blanket of half melting, half crunchy crumbs. Delightful.
Lightly spiced plum and pear crumble
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Recipe by: Plum crumble recipe by wonderful American blog Orangette Busy:15 min, Total prep time: 45 min Serves: 6-8 |
Prepare the fruits:
Quarter and pit the plums; peel the pears and cut into chunks of roughly the same size as the plums.
Melt a dollop of butter in a frying pan on medium-low heat. Add the fruits, sugar and spices and soften for 5 minutes. Nigel Slater advises to cook the fruits before adding them to a crumble - this gives the juiciest and most tender result.
Prepare the crumble:
Mix all the dry ingredients together.
Add the egg and mix thoroughly, squeezing the flour mix with your hands and pressing and rubbing it through your palms and fingers, until obtaining small moist particles.
Sprinkle evenly over the fruits. Melt the butter and spoon slowly and evenly over the dish.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the top takes on a nice honey shade (iI overdid it a bit on my picture) .
Serve warm with clotted cream.
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C.
Prepare the fruits:
Quarter and pit the plums; peel the pears and cut into chunks of roughly the same size as the plums.
Melt a dollop of butter in a frying pan on medium-low heat. Add the fruits, sugar and spices and soften for 5 minutes. Nigel Slater advises to cook the fruits before adding them to a crumble – this gives the juiciest and most tender result.
Prepare the crumble:
Mix all the dry ingredients together.
Add the egg and mix thoroughly, squeezing the flour mix with your hands and pressing and rubbing it through your palms and fingers, until obtaining small moist particles.
Sprinkle evenly over the fruits. Melt the butter and spoon slowly and evenly over the dish.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the top takes on a nice honey shade (iI overdid it a bit on my picture) .
Serve warm with clotted cream.
Use British plums if you can. Failing that, go for the plump, almost black italian ones which can now be found most easily. When ripe, they are ravishingly juicy and sweet. Needless to say, only use fruits that are ripe otherwise the crumble will lack in taste and be too tart.
Ingredients
For the fruits:
8 large plums (12 small ones)
2 large pears (3 small ones)
1 large knob of butter
2 tablespoons golden caster or demerara sugar
1/2 teaspoon mixed spices
2 anise seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
For the crumble:
100g golden caster sugar or demerara sugar
110g all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
a bit of cinnamon (optional)
2 pinches of salt
1 egg, beaten well
100g unsalted butter, melted
For the fruits:
8 large plums (12 small ones)
2 large pears (3 small ones)
1 large knob of butter
2 tablespoons golden caster or demerara sugar
1/2 teaspoon mixed spices
2 anise seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
For the crumble:
100g golden caster sugar or demerara sugar
110g all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
a bit of cinnamon (optional)
2 pinches of salt
1 egg, beaten well
100g unsalted butter, melted
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