Rachel Allen's Blackberry and Apple Crumble

July is here already and what a lovely warm few weeks it has been. We've been in Cornwall and enjoyed great food at Rick Steins, Fifteen (Jamie Oliver's restaurant project) amongst other wonderful eateries in this neck of the woods. I have not been baking much because of the hot weather but fancied an easy pud today and this crumble was really lovely with a dollop of Mackies Scottish ice-cream. Bye for now..Lucie x

Blackberry and Apple Crumble

Rachel Allen gives these tips and suggestions.......

If you choose to leave out the berries, add ½ tsp ground cinnamon or a few cloves to the apple. You can also add oats to the crumble, or nuts, such as chopped pecans, walnuts or nibbed almonds. If you want to use less sugar, you can cook eating apples instead of the cooking variety, although they have a slightly less fluffy texture. For a summer time rhubarb and strawberry crumble, just cook the rhubarb as you would for the rhubarb fool with strawberries, though you shouldn't reduce it as much; it should be a bit more juicy. Add the sliced strawberries - but not the cream - and cover with the crumble.

Ingredients
4 large cooking Apples peeled, cored and cut into big chunks
1 tbsp water
3 tbsp sugar

225g fresh or frozen Blackberries, or mixed berries
For the crumble:
170g plain flour
75g Butter
75g demerara sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Put the apple chunks, water and sugar into a saucepan over a lowish heat and cook until the apples are soft and mushy; this should take about 10 minutes. While cooking, stir it every minute or so to prevent sticking. Taste and add more sugar if it needs it. Transfer the apple pulp into individual bowls or one big pie dish and allow to cool slightly. Stir the berries into the apples. To make the crumble, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles very coarse breadcrumbs. However, if you rub it too much the crumble will not be crunchy. Combine with the sugar. Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the slightly cooled apple and bake for 15 mins for small crumbles or 30-45 mins for larger crumbles. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.