Apple and Blackberry Crumble

Time for something seasonal! I considered at the beginning ordering my blog posts by season, so you could just look down the months for what you want, but a few problems were presented: predominately, there were so many recipes I wanted to get down that I couldn't be bothered to wait, and secondly many recipes didn't have a seasonal value: when do you traditionally eat banoffee pie? When are bananas in season in the UK? Er, never, so it didn't really matter. That being said, I would like to theme my December posts on Christmas (ideas already brewing) and I thought so many UK fruits are in season in Autumn, so it would be good to use such ingredients - and, after all, what's better than cooking food you've grown yourself? (Cheesy? Cliché? Meh.) This crumble uses apple and blackberries, both very well suited to our climate and in season now, but of course many other fruits can be used too.

Apple and Blackberry Crumble
Prep time: 30 mins
Serves: 4
Cooking temp: Gas 4, 180C
Cooking time: 30-35 mins

Ingredients
385g cooking apples
315g blackberries
75g caster sugar
75g butter (room temperature)
75g caster sugar (again)
50g porridge oats
100g plain white flour

Method

1. Preheat the oven.
2. Peel, core and slice the apple into fairly thick slices.
   
3. Line a baking dish with the apple and evenly distribute the blackberries over the top.
   
   
   
    
4. Sprinkle over 75g of sugar, and stir slightly in.
   
5. Mix flour and butter together and rub with your fingers into coarse crumbs.
   
   
   
   
   
6. Add the sugar and the oats, and rub together to form finer crumbs.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Sprinkle over the apple and blackberries, covering it totally.
   
   
   
   
8. Cook for 30-35 mins, until the crumble is golden and the fruit begins to bubble up around the edges.

Alternatives....
Not so seasonal, but try -
700g of rhubarb (chopped into 2cm pieces)
700g of plums, halved and stoned (almost in season)

adding 1tsp of orange marmalade
adding 1tsp of whisky
using muesli instead of oats (you will have even MORE fruit!)