The first weekend of September and I’m jumping on the seasonal fruit and making a delicious apple and blackberry crumble. Unfortunately I don’t have easy access to an orchard so my apples were purchased from the supermarket. The blackberries however are abundant on the hedgerows of Monaghan so no need to go to the supermarket from those. Doggo has a great fondness for blackberries too.

This crumble recipe is a classic to have in your skill set. You can have the pastry and crumble both made and frozen in advance so that there’s always something sweet on hand if unexpected visitors drop in.

I like to embrace seasonal ingredients as much as possible. During the summer I turn this recipe into a rhubarb crumble.

Hope you enjoy!

Amy x

Ingredients
For the pastry:
150g cold butter, cubed
225g plain flour
2 1/2 tbsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1 egg, beaten

For the filling:
4 Bramley apples, stewed & sweetened
100g fresh blackberries

For the crumble:
130g plain flour
30g porridge oats
90g butter
1/4 tsp mixed spice
100g dark brown sugar
50g caster sugar

Method
Preheat the oven to 200C.

To make the pastry, rub together the butter and flour until it resembles rough breadcrumbs.

Stir in the mixed spice and sugar.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and gradually add in the egg to form a smooth dough.

Roll out the dough and line a fluted, loose-bottom dish.

Cover the pastry with greaseproof paper, fill with baking beads and blind-bake for 20 mins in the preheated oven.

Fill the pastry case with the apples and blackberry and bake uncovered while making the topping.

To make the crumble, rub together the flours, oats and butter until it resembles rough breadcrumbs.

Stir in the mixed spice and sugars.

Cover the filling with the crumble and bake for a further 30-40 mins.