Berry Crumble

Week 9 of the Cookbook Challenge with a theme of Berry. I went with a very imaginative Berry Crumble from one of my Christmas presents, a book that I have been eyeing off since it came out – Stephanie Alexander’s Kitchen Garden Companion – half cook book half gardening book. Now I just need to get a place with a garden!

Ingredients

50g unsalted butter

400g rasberries, blackberries, mulberries or a mixture

1/3 cup caster sugar

double or clotted cream, to serve

For crumble topping:

1/3 cup soft brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

60g unsalted butter, chopped

2/3 cup plain flour (I used gluten free flour)

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees celcius.

To make the crumble topping, mix sugar, baking powder and ginger in a bowl. In another bowl, crumble butter into flour with your fingertips to make pea-sized pieces, then toss flour mixture with sugar mixture. Set aside.

Use some of the butter to grease four 125ml capacity gratin dishes. Divide berries among dishes. Press down on them lightly with the back of a spoon. Scatter over sugar. Spoon over crumble topping; it should be no more than 1cm deep (any extra crumble can be put into a suitable container, labelled and frozen, ready for a crumble some other day). Divide remaining butter into small pieces and dot over tops of crumbles. Set dishes on a baking tray with a lip to catch any overflowing juices.

Bake crumbles for 15 minutes or until topping is golden and berry juices are bubbling through. Leave crumbles to cool for several minutes before serving with spoonfuls of double or clotted cream.