Over the past few weeks the children and I have been very, very busy learning about all sorts of things, and spending time with nature. They were inspired by the Biodiversity Summer School foraging that they do each year, and this year they made their own plum and apple crumble using the fruit they gathered themselves.
The kids loved hunting and finding fruit that was nice and ripe and picking it themselves. Each year that the orchard grows, the fruit gets bigger; but at the same time, the trees are also growing faster than the kids so that before too long they won’t be able to reach it. So let’s let them enjoy it while they can and make their childhood memories sweet!
The children are picking their fruit from a community orchard and only picking what they are going to use, and not putting a dent into the bounty that is there; we certainly wouldn’t want to be greedy or wasteful; that isn’t good for either nature or community spirit.
I used to make little apple crumbles back in Canada, and they were good, and the kids wanted to make their own when they heard me mention them. So when they had their fruit and a little free time one afternoon before their Ju-Jitsu training, so they set to work!
Although this recipe is for plum and apples, you can only use apples, or mix and match your favourite fruit combinations for a new taste experience every time!
Plum and Apple Crumble Ingredients
For the Crumble
- 140g butter cut into small cubes
- 140g plain flour
- 85g soft brown sugar
- 50g porridge oat
For the Fruit
- ripe plums, cut into bite-sized pieces and the stones removed
- apples, cored and cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 tbsp soft brown sugar
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- juice ½ lemon
Start With the Crumble
Put all of the crumble ingredients in a bowl and use a fork to squish it all together until everything is of an almost even consistency. Or, you can toss the flour and butter into a food processor and pulse it until it has a sandy consistency and then add the remaining ingredients, with 2 tablespoons of water and use a fork to finish mixing it together to a crumbly mess with a few large lumps remaining.
Chill until you need it.
Preparing the Fruit
You’ll notice that I haven’t given exact amounts for the fruit. This is because the apples and plums the kids picked were very small, and we were also making individual servings for each of our family members instead of one big crumble. You can decide how much fruit you will need to feed your family and/or guests and make the appropriate adjustments.
Heat your oven to 200C/180C fan/400F/gas 6. Place all of your fruit ingredients into a dish and mix them together (or evenly divide them if you are also making individual servings).
Add about 50ml of water to the fruit combo, cover your dish with foil and bake it for between 35 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the size of your dish.
Remove the foil and sprinkle over the crumble topping and return it to the oven again for anther 15-30 minutes until the top is golden.
The crumble topping above was too much for us to use for one recipe as in fact, we made two recipes; one with butter, and a second one with vegetable lard due to a dairy allergy. We put the left overs into the freezer so it’s ready for the next time we want to make a delicious dessert with less fuss! Next time all we have to do is cut the fruit and the rest will already be done!
Serve hot with custard or ice cream, or just enjoy it on its own!
Now it was time for the taste test; would the plum and apple crumble live up to expectations?
Yes! It was given a thumbs up by the crazy crew!
Bon appetit!
