Blackberry and Pear Crumble

At the start of this week my dad gave me tones of pears and then today we went out blackberry picking, so I thought it would only be right to make a good old fashioned British crumble. There are so many blackberries at the moment and I swear they just pop up everywhere, so get yourself foraging! The pecans in the crumble mixture make it lovely and crunchy and with the sharp blackberries and subtle pears it makes a perfectly summery crumble! 

Makes a lot of crumble:

800g pears pealed and chopped into large chunks

1 medium cooking apple pealed and chopped into large chunks

100g caster sugar

Juice of 1/2 a lemon 

300g blackberries

125g butter

250g flour

125g light brown sugar 

85g pecans (blitzed in a food processor, or smashed with a rolling pin)

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
2. Pop the apple and pear chunks into a pan and cover with the lemon juice and sugar, cook on a low heat for around 10 mins until the juices have been extracted.
3. Add the blackberries and bring to the boil for a few mins until everything has turned a lovely purple colour.
4. Pour the fruit in to a large dish or a few small ones.
5. Make the crumble by rubbing the butter and flour between your fingers to make a breadcrumb texture, then fold in the sugar and pecans.
6. Spread the crumble mixture over the fruit and then bake in the oven for around 20 minutes if making small ones and up to 40 minutes if you're making one large one (either way, until it's golden brown on top).
7. Serve with custard, cream or ice cream and enjoy!

To make a vegan version substitute butter with vegan margarine (such as pure) and serve with some lovely vegan custard. 

Posted in: Baking