Apple & Blackberry Crumble

Recipe: A sweet dessert with cream

Serves    about 4

Preparation time    10 minutes

Cooking time    about 30 minutes

Ingredients    

- for crumble: 160g flour/ 80g butter or margarine/ 80g caster sugar/ 2 tsp cinnamon powder 

- for fruit filling: 300g apple/ 100g blackberries/ about 2 tbsp water/ 100g brown sugar/ little lemon zest

To serve    double cream or custard

---

Measuring terminology: tbsp=tablespoon=15ml/ tsp=teaspoon=5ml

---

1    Remove the apple core, and cut into 2-3cm pieces, thinly slice, and place in a saucepan. Add the blackberries, lemon zest, water and brown sugar, and simmer for about 10 minutes until the apples are slightly soft. 

2    Grease the base and sides of a pie dish with butter, tip in the cooked fruit filling and leave to cool a little.

3    Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan /6 gas)

4    Mix the flour, sugar and cinnamon powder in a bowl, then rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips to make a light breadcrumb texture. Do not overwork it or the crumble will become heavy.

5    Sprinkle the crumble topping over the fruit filling and put the dish in the oven. Cook for about 30-40 minutes until the topping turns golden-brown.

---

The cooking method for crumble is very simple, so there is no special explanation to add. I referred to my grandmother-in-law’s recipe for this crumble as well. Even though her recipes follow the same basic baking methods, the measurement units are unfamiliar and the cooking instructions are different from current popular recipes. To me that makes them even more interesting and attractive. I learned the ‘lb’ unit (pounds) from her recipe this time. The pound is a unit of measurement that I had never used before.

Since I grow raspberries, blackberries and apples in my garden, I use my homemade fruit conserve without needing to cook it separately when I bake crumble. 

If you have some berries left over that you can't eat fresh, even if it's just a small amount, I recommend making them into a conserve. Conserves can be served with yoghurt and can also be used directly as a crumble filling without any additional cooking. If you use jam rather than conserve, it's good to mix it with a little water when you bake it in a crumble. It's even better if you add some frozen fruit as well. If you want to make jam or conserve, you can refer to my raspberry jam recipe. This recipe uses lemon and apple as the base ingredients, and you can use any fruit, not just raspberry. If you want to know the difference between conserve, compote or jam you can refer to this article from the magazine 'Food & wine'. 

When I came to the UK before getting married, my mother-in-law baked rhubarb crumble for me once. That was my first time to eat crumble. The sour flavour was so delicious that I remember wondering what the fruit called rhubarb was. Rhubarb is a large-leafed plant with thick, pink stems. Although it looks like a vegetable on the outside, strangely it is classified as a fruit and is used in various dishes such as pies, crumbles, tarts, cakes and chutneys.

The season is changing now so it has become quite chilly. It’s time to harvest the remaining garden crops. I picked most of the fruits that can no longer ripen under the autumn sun, even though they were green, except for the ones I'm saving for seeds. The overgrown courgette that I couldn't pick on time because I was busy became a bit too big. The woven fruit basket I made with my mother-in-law is very useful during harvest season. The tomatoes, apples, peppers, cucumbers, perilla leaves, courgettes, raspberries and blackberries were all lovely this year.

Crumbles are delicious when eaten on their own, but I think they taste best when eaten with cream. Especially if the fruit filling is made of berries, I would say cream is essential. It's a taste you won't forget once you try it!

My idea of cream in Korea was the sweet and airy cream used on fruit-topped cakes or the kind of buttercream icing used for decoration. However since moving to the UK my experience of cream has been broadened through trying all the various kinds served with different tea-time treats.

---

Different grades of cream are distinguished by their fat content, whether they have been heat-treated, whipped, and so on. Each country has different regulations for each type. I like clotted cream or double cream best. British double cream is full of flavour and it is easy to whip. In its runny form, it goes well with pies or tarts, and when made into whipped cream, it goes well with scones or cakes.

Choose the best cream

It’s important to choose the right type of cream depending on what you are making. As a rule, the higher the fat content the easier it will be to use, as the fat holds the liquid elements together. A higher fat cream will therefore be less likely to split or curdle when incorporated with hot ingredients and will also whisk up well to an airy whipped cream.

Single cream - a richer version of milk, with around 18% fat content. You can use it for pouring or adding to coffee. Single cream will not whip and will curdle if boiled, so it can't be a substitute in recipes that call for whipping or double cream.

Whipping cream - has around a 36% fat content, which allows air to be trapped when whipped, roughly doubling the volume. Once whipped, it can be used to top desserts or fill cakes and pastries.

Double cream - the thickest with around 48% fat content. It makes an ideal pouring cream, such as when serving with fruit, or it can be whipped and piped for decorating desserts. It can also be used to add richness and creaminess to savoury dishes. Extra thick double cream is made by heating then rapidly cooling double cream.

Soured cream - has been treated with lactic acid, which gives it a tangy taste. It has a thick texture but only around 18% fat content. Use it for making cheesecakes, dips, topping nachos, and in soups and sauces, but it cannot be boiled or it will spilt.

Créme fraîche - similar to soured cream but with a milder taste. It is traditionally made from unpasteurised cream that has been left to ferment, but nowadays, pasteurised cream is thickened and soured with the addition of bacteria. It has around 48% fat, which means it does not curdle when cooked. Serve with fresh fruit and in soups, casserole and dips. Low- or half-fat crème fraîche is readily available and this means some of the fat is replaced with natural thickeners and stabilisers so that it will still hold together in cooking.

Clotted cream - has the highest fat percentage of all creams at 55%. It's made by baking double cream until a delicious crust forms on the surface. This silky, butter-coloured cream is a speciality of Devon and Cornwall where it is served with scones, butter and jam.

- Source: some of BBC good food: Cream 
(Summary based on types of creams produced in the UK)

(Reference: BBC good food: Cream, Wikipedia: Cream, Cream of France: A history of cream, All recipes: What Is Double Cream, Devon Hampers: The History Behind The Cream Tea And The Great Devon)

---

이 레시피들은 영어와 한국어, 두 가지 버전으로 만들어져 있습니다. 영어로 글쓰기에 관심이 있거나 영국 식탁에 관심이 있는 분, 한국어에 관심이 있는 잉글리시 스피커라면 목차를 확인하시고 원하는 버전을 읽어주세요.

My recipes are published in both Korean and English. Korean speakers who are interested in British food or writing in English, or English speakers who are interested in the Korean language, please check the contents list and choose the version you prefer.