Summer Recipe: Apple, Rhubarb and Strawberry Crumble.

 
I thought I would do my own little recipe for a delicious crumble I made the other day! I’m sorry I don’t have pictures to accompany the recipe as I didn’t think to take any whilst I was making the crumble, so I only got one photo at the end when I’d dished the dessert up. It’s a really simple recipe so if you’re not a confident baker or cook then this recipe will be really easy for anyone to do. Another great point with this dessert is that it doesn’t require a lot of ingredients, so it is fairly cheap to make too!
 It’s a really fruity (so feels healthy) pudding and is great to have in summer time! Or simply adding a few ingredients (e.g. cinnamon) or removing the strawberries (as these are a summer fruit really) will make the pudding delicious to have in autumn or winter too! When I first had it I had it with ice cream, but the following morning I had it cold and on its own and it was just as yummy! In fact, I preferred it on its own, as you could really taste the three different fruits, and it was juicy enough that it did not need cream or anything.
  What you will need:
 The fruit bottom;
3 sticks of rhubarb
2 Pink Lady apples
Two handfuls of strawberries
Caster Sugar
Water
 Crumble topping;
50g Butter
80g Plain Flour
50g Caster Sugar
(Add chopped almonds or oats if desired)



Heat oven to 220 degrees. Wash all the fruit.

First of all I cut the apple into fairly thin slices/segments, to allow it to roast quicker. Also make sure the core is removed and that there are no pips. I kept the skin of the apple on, simply because I’ve heard that most the nutrients are in the skin of the fruit, but if you’re not a fan of apple skin then simply peel the apple before cutting.

Then I cut the rhubarb into small chunks, again to roast faster.

Put the apple and the rhubarb into a large ceramic cooking dish, one that can withstand the high temperature of the oven. Lay the fruit out to cover the bottom of the dish and to make sure the fruit is evenly distributed across the dish.

Then sprinkle the fruit with some cold water (tap water will do fine); this is just to prevent the fruit from completely drying out.

Then sprinkle caster sugar over the top of the fruit in the dish. I put a lot of sugar over the fruit, because I like my crumble to be sweeter. But if you prefer your crumble (especially the rhubarb) then only sprinkle a little over the top of the fruit.

Put this dish into the oven for the fruit to roast. You want the fruit to go soft, but not mushy, this can take approximately 30 minutes, but I would keep my eye on the fruit and keep checking it every 15 minutes.

Whilst that fruit is in you can prepare the strawberries. These only need to be added to the fruit later because these go softer a lot quicker than the apple and rhubarb. Remove the tops of the strawberries. Then simply cut the strawberries into small cuts; small strawberries can be halved and larger strawberries into quarters.

Once the rhubarb and apple has begun to soften; remove the dish from the oven and then add the strawberries to the top of the other two fruits. Put back in the oven for another 15 minutes.

Whilst the fruit is finishing roasting, prepare the crumble topping.

Mix the flour and caster sugar together in a mixing bowl. Then add the butter and mix the butter into the flour and sugar. This is best done using your hands and fingers. Make sure all the butter is mixed in, the crumble should end up looking like breadcrumbs.

Wait for the fruit to be completely roasted then take it out the oven.

Add the crumble to the top of the fruit. Make sure the crumble topping is evenly distributed across the top of the fruit.

Put the dish back into the oven and bake the crumble for 25 minutes. Crumble topping should turn a golden brown.

Serve the crumble with either custard, cream or ice cream; and enjoy!
  

If anyone has any questions about the recipe feel free to ask!