Whether it's lemon juice, a splash of wine, or a good-quality vinegar, your crumble filling needs a little acidity to keep it from tasting clunky and overly sweet. Vinegar won't make your crumble taste like salad dressing, but it will perform the task of balancing out the sugar. Mix it right in with the chopped fruit, sweetener, and thickener before topping and baking. Even a little lemon zest can brighten things, says Morocco. Packed with cranberries and pears, this crumble could double as breakfast.
Photo: Alex Lau. Slow and steady wins the crisp and crumble race. Go too hot and the crumble topping with get too dark before the fruit is ready. You'll be left with too-hard fruit and a burnt topping, which will make both you and us sad. If the top could use a little extra browning, jack the temperature or broil it after it's fully baked. Just keep a vigilant watch! Keep the Fruit in Big Pieces.
Our best cobblers, crumbles, crisps, and buckles. It contains just four ingredients: fruit, flour, sugar and butter. I briefly whizz g plain flour in the food processor with g butter until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs, and then stir in g caster sugar and sprinkle over a little water, so it comes together into "small pebbles".
This goes on top of some stewed apples and blackberries, and into the oven at C for 30 minutes until golden and crisp, by which time the pink juices of the fruit have bubbled through the topping and caramelised promisingly on the surface and, less happily, on the oven floor.
The result is good; not as floury as previous recipes I've used, and without too much sponginess either; Nigel likes the soggy bit underneath, I'm more about the crisp top.
I've never heard of adding water to a crumble topping before, although now I know the history of the dish, it makes sense in a frugal sort of a way, and it certainly seems to have done the trick when it comes to binding the thing together. To make doubly sure, however, I've kept some of the mixture back, and this time, skip the water stage. The resulting crumble is a bit less craggy and interesting — it tastes the same, but with crumble, that's hardly the point. Nigella Lawson's a woman who looks like she knows how to appreciate a good crumble — and her method in How to Eat intrigues me.
She claims the texture of the topping is improved by giving the mixture a "quick blast in the deep-freeze" after it's been rubbed together.
Alternatively, if you're making the mixture ahead of time, you can simply store it in the fridge until you're ready to use. The thinking behind this is presumably the same as with chilling shortbread dough, slowing the melting of the butter and thus helping the crumble to retain its pebbly shape while cooking. I give her recipe a whirl: g flour she uses self-raising, but admits this is because the only other flour she keeps in the house is "Italian 00 and its qualities are just not required here", so I substitute plain instead , 90g butter, and 6 tbsp sugar, rubbed together into a mixture that resembles "porridge oats".
Half goes into the freezer for 10 minutes, and the remainder goes into the oven immediately, on top of another bowl of stewed apple and blackberries.
When they're both ready, I look carefully. There's not much in it, but the chilled mixture is indeed studded with a few more lumps and bumps than the one cooked straight away, which suggests that freezing is a good tip if you're not pressed for time.
Nigella also claims that rubbing the butter in by hand makes for a "more gratifyingly nubbly crumble; the processor can make the crumbs so fine you end up … with a cakey rather than crumbly texture". Although I don't find the mixing as "peculiarly relaxing" as she does slamming a bit of dough around is far more fun , I'm not averse to going back to basics if it means saving on washing up, so I make another half batch of her recipe, and rub in the butter to the flour and sugar with my fingers "index and middle flutteringly stroking the fleshy pads of your thumbs" as the domestic goddess puts it.
Gratifyingly, I can't tell the difference once cooked — but I would second her caution to go carefully if you're using a food processor, and pulse it rather than switching it on full, or you'll end up with tiny, floury crumbs. The aforementioned Mary Norwak has stern views on crumble, which she condemns, in its English incarnation, as "dull and insipid".
We should take a leaf out of the American book, she says, by using fresh, rather than stewed fruit something I do anyway, unless apples are concerned , and a crisp butter, brown sugar and spice topping.
That is when the topping is at its crispiest — which is, after all, the point. Make the topping: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, oats, sugars, salt and spices. Stir in butter. Using your hands, squish mixture until coarse crumbs form. Spread topping in one layer onto a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until crumbs are solid when you gently poke them, and are fragrant, about 15 minutes.
Transfer baking sheet to a wire rack to cool while you make the filling. Crumbs can be baked up to two days ahead and stored in an airtight container at room temperature. Prepare the filling: In a large bowl, whisk together sugar and cornstarch until well-combined. Add fruit and gently toss to coat with the sugar mixture. Pour filling into an ungreased 2-quart gratin dish or inch cake pan, mounding the fruit in the center.
Spoon crumbs over filling and place the crumble dish on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any overflowing juices. You can use the same baking sheet you cooked the crumbs on.
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