Berry Nice Fruit Crumble Recipe

This is one of those desserts you just throw together. It’s fantastically easy and it tastes like heaven in a bowl. It comes to you courtesy of the mulberry tree in my back yard, and the amplitude of strawberries in my refrigerator.  I would like to claim that I grew the strawberries too, but alas, between Bert and the blue tongued lizard, there are never any strawberries left for human consumption in my vegetable garden.

Be careful of the mulberries. Their juice will stain fingers, chopping boards and clothes. But a green mulberry rubbed over the stain of a ripe mulberry works just like an eraser. Who would have thought? (Thanks to my grandmother, Marga, for that tip. They had a mulberry tree on their farm that we would climb as little kids to gorge ourselves on the fruit.)

Here’s a pic of the mulberries which actually made it into the bowl yesterday (as opposed to my mouth…).

While you are preparing your fruit, turn on the oven and preheat to 160 degrees celcius (gas mark 3, or 325 degress farenheit). Drop the temp just a little more if your oven is fan forced. By the way, this recipe serves 6 people. Less if the people at your table are starving or piggy people, more if your people are small-child sized or have already enjoyed a good dinner.

Fruit: 1 large granny smith (or other firm cooking) apple, peeled and chopped into small pieces; 1 punnet (about 1 1/2 cups) of strawberries washed, hulled and chopped; 1 1/2 cups of mulberries or other soft sweet berries – washed and stalks removed; 2 tablespoons strawberry jam.  Mix fruit and jam gently together until combined. If the jam is very thick add a little boiling water to thin enough to mix through.

Crumble topping: 1 cup plain (all purpose) flour, 1/4 cup butter, 1/4 cup flaked almonds, 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, 1/4 cup raw (demerara) sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 heaped teaspoon lemon zest.  Rub butter into the dry ingredients with the tips of your fingers until it looks like breadcrumbs. **This can so easily be made with gluten-free flour!!!

Place fruit into a greased pie dish. Dump crumble mixture on top and use your fingers to press it out to the edges of the dish. Place on a baking sheet and put into oven. Bake 30 minutes, or until lightly browned on top, and bubbly at edges.

Serve your crumble with good vanilla icecream or some pouring cream. It would also be good with yoghurt. Enjoy!