I really miss the life in the UK especially my dear friends and the fascinating village. It just simply unforgettable. I remember my first time having an apple crumble in my friend's cottage few years back, that's remarkable one! Dining in a cottage with a hot crumble during the cold weather, such a typical English lifestyle. I fall in love with crumble from that day onwards. It was my first time had a hot dessert go with vanilla ice cream, custard or yogurt. I've not been making it after I moved into Singapore. It's just happened that my crumble's mood came back again last weekend although we're having such a hot and humid weather here but I can't wait to make it for our dinner dessert. This crumble recipe I had with me for many years is the best one for me especially the crumble toppings. Crumbly yet buttery rich flavor that goes so well with the bit of sourly fruits. Further more, the scoop of ice cream that slowly melting on the hot crumble that make me feel like sitting in a the English cottage again....
Preheat the oven to 200C. For the filling, you could use apple, pear, plum, figs, etc with some berries like blueberries, blackberries or raspberries. This time, I use plum and pear. Peel, quarter and core the pear and plum into large chunks. Place in a shallow ovenproof dish. I used a small one for serving two person. Adding one orange zest and juice to the fruits. Mix together with hands. Toss over the blackberries, and scatter over some sugar (I didn't add any sugar on it as I feel the fruits is sweet enough for me). For the crumble topping, place 30g ground almond, 70g flour, 45g polenta, 70g cold butter and 55g raw sugar in a food processor and pulse briefly several times, just to mix. The mixture should look like coarse breadcrumbs. Tip out into a bowl and add a splash of water. Use a spoon to mix briefly, it should be quite clumpy. Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the fruits. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. If you have leftover crumble, store in the freezer or fridge and use it later for your crumble muffins, that's what I like to do. Turn down the heat to 180C and cook for another 10 - 15 minutes until the top is nicely browned and bubbling. If you like the fruits to stay crunchy, adjust the baking time. Otherwise bake longer to have a soft texture of fruits. Serve while it's still hot. The crumble served with my homemade raspberries ripple ice cream. You could serve with custard or yogurt. Enjoy!
