Cooking With Lou Lou - A Classic British Pudding

Hey my loves I haven't done a recipe post for a little while now, so whilst I'm hopefully enjoying the beautiful Cypriot sunshine I thought I'd show you the recipe for one of my favourite Autumn / Winter puddings - The Crumble. This was one of the first things we ever made in cookery at school and it is so easy I really can't understand why people buy crumbles or even crumble topping in the supermarket ! This is a real favourite in my house and always goes down well.

Fruit Crumble

Stewed Fruit or Fruit Pie Filling From A Tin (Apples, Plums, Apricots, Blackberries, etc)
4oz Flour (Plain or Self Raising - I've Used Doves Farm Gluten Free Plain Here)
2oz Sugar (Soft Brown Is My Preference But Whatever You Have)
2oz Butter or Margarine
Handful of Oats or Chopped Nuts (optional)

1.Ok you have two options here first of all you can stew your own fruit by putting the chopped fruit with a little bit of water and some sugar into a pan or in the microwave and cook until the fruit softens.I've used Bramley Apples and Plums from my Uncle's trees here, or you can use a tin or two of ready made fruit pie filling. Pop it in to an oven proof dish

2. Put your flour into a large bowl, then add the butter or margarine either in cubes or in small pieces. Rub the flour and fat between you fingers until the mixture looks like slightly lumpy breadcrumbs

3. Then add the sugar and gently stir it into the flour and the fat. If you like you can add some chopped nuts or oats at this stage to give your crumble a bit of extra crunch - I've added some gluten free safe oats here x

4. Spoon the crumble topping evenly over the top of your fruit, I sometimes sprinkle a bit of extra sugar over the top at this point for even more crunch

5. Then bake in the oven at 190° for around 30 minutes until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden

6. Leave to cool for a little while (the fruit will be VERY HOT)  then serve with ice cream, custard, cream or like I've used here my own personal guilty pleasure evaporated milk - enjoy :)

Hints and Tips

 * I've given you the basic recipe here but you can easily double it or whatever depending on the size of your oven dish or how much fruit you have, or even how much topping you like
* Experiment with whatever you have around I've used over ripe bananas with apple, and I've even added mincemeat leftover from Christmas with apple which was yum!
* Obviously if your Coeliac like me make sure that your oats and flour are gluten free.

Simples, why people buy the topping ready made I really don't know it's so easy and so theraputic to make. What your favourite autumn / winter pudding ? I'd love to know x