By Irene Kappes

I have read that crumble was made popular during WW2 when pastry ingredients were in short supply. Breadcrumbs or oatmeal could be used to pad it out. So the story goes anyway.

Here’s my version.

Serves 4

Ingredients

Mixture of fruit in any combination or proportion you like e.g. blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, redcurrants, cherries, apples (I sometimes use several of these together).  You can also opt for single fruit e.g. apple, apricot, rhubarb – or strawberry and rhubarb is nice. About 400g is probably enough, but you can adjust according to personal taste. A good layer in a 1 litre pie dish, or similar, is what you’re aiming for.

• 180g plain flour
• 120g butter
• 60g caster or granulated sugar
• Small handful of oats
• Flaked almonds and chopped walnuts

Method

• Place the fruit in an oven proof dish and add a little cinnamon if liked, or with apples I use cloves and add a few sultanas and a squeeze of lemon.  Add sugar if desired or a mixture of sugar and a little stevia root powder.
• Sieve flour into a mixing bowl. Add butter in small chunks and rub in. Keep it light and don’t overrub.
• Stir in sugar and a small handful of oats.
• Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the fruit.
• Top with some nuts.

Bake for around 40 minutes – I set my fan oven at 140C – until turning golden brown on top.

Healthy version

I sometimes do a healthy alternative by simply sprinkling the fruit with a thin layer of oats, nuts and a few tiny slivers of butter, plus a teaspoon of sugar, and bake for a bit less time. It’s delicious with yoghurt.