Autumnal Apple & Pear Crumble

'Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness'.........so goes the ode 'To Autumn'

'A' is for 'Autumn' but 'A' is also for 'Apples' which, thanks to our fruit trees we usually have loads of, conveniently costing us nothing......except a little laborious pruning every few years!

My Autumnal Apple & Pear crumble is the most simple and basic of crumbles, but is so delicious everyone loves it.......I do not go in for adding cinnamon to my crumble, just let the fruits speak for themselves, they are at their best at this time of year after all.....in the 'fall'......the hard decision now is whether to eat your crumble plain, with custard....'Birds' of course... lets keep it traditional, or with whipped cream or ice-cream.......... I'll leave that decision to you!

You will need: makes 8 portions

for the fruit:

approx 400 - 500 g of fruit after peel and core have been removed......about 300 g William pears 400g Bramley apples unprepared

40 g unsalted butter

80-100 g castor sugar approx

1 tablespoon cornflour only if needed!

for the crumble topping:

300 g plain flour

pinch salt

230 g castor sugar

240 g unsalted butter

How to:

• weigh the butter for the crumble topping, cut it into small dice and keep chilled in the fridge until needed
• cut the fruit into bite size pieces, place in a saucepan with the butter and 80 g of the sugar, cover with a lid and put on a medium to low heat, we want to begin the cooking of the fruit which will burst and allow any excess liquid to seep out
• when the fruit has burst and become soft, remove the pan from the heat, check for sweetness
• add more sugar if you think it needs it
• is there a lot of liquid? then you can stir in the cornflour now add the cornflour, be careful not to break up the fruit too much when stirring
• once that is done, place the fruit into a suitable oven proof dish and set aside to cool a little while you make the crumble topping or you can even allow it to cool and refrigerate it overnight for baking the next day
• for the crumble top.....I like to use an electric mixer, you get a more perfect crumble texture this way...
• weigh the flour and sugar and place in a mixing bowl, add the salt
• take the butter from the fridge and add to the bowl
• using the 'K' beater, begin to mix on medium speed until the butter has rubbed into the flour, this may take a while as the butter is cold, as it begins to warm up to room temperature it will rub in more and more and begin to form lumps as if heading towards forming a pastry dough
• stop the mixer and swap over to the whisk attachment
• we now want to mix on a medium to high speed as we want to keep rubbing the butter into the flour but without letting a dough form, the whisk wires will help prevent your mix becoming a ball of dough.
• once you are beginning to see small balls forming turn off the mixer
• using a fork, begin to scrape the crumble out of the bowl onto the top of the fruit, scatter using the fork, never press down or use your hands or a spoon by the way, we want to keep the crumble loose and light
• using a fork spread the crumble topping evenly over the fruit....don't be tempted to press down
• place your crumble in a pre-heated oven 160 oC for approx 18-25 minutes or until the top is a golden brown colour and crunchily crisp
• when baking some of the fruit juices may bubble up around the edges so it is wise to put a tray underneath your dish or you'll have the oven to clean too!