Apricot, pear and Angelino plum crumble

With single/light cream

It really wasn’t my intention of going with another variation on a theme of crumbles, at least not this soon. However, I had wanted to remake the apricot, pear and persimmon again with even less sugar. So, I sliced off the tops of the ripe persimmon only to realise they were overly ripe. I’ve read that’s how some people eat them. Not for me. They were chucked in the bin. Far too slimy. Instead, I grabbed a punnet of Angelino plums that were still slightly firm. If anything I preferred this combination. And, happy to say, at last I’ve managed to get the right levels of sweetness. Having said that I just might use less of light brown sugar next time. The topping was nicely crunchy, gooey and sticky – just how I like ‘em.

Ingredients:

Serves 2 – 3

For the filling:

• ½ x lemon, rolled under palms before juicing, juice poured through a fine sieve
• 3 x medium or about 360g (12.69 oz) x firm Conference pears, peeled, cut in half and cored. Also cut out their threads (that lead to the stem) by cutting a V shape along its length (see photo at end of post). Cut them into chunks and place them, as they’re prepared, in freshly squeezed lemon juice to prevent discolouration
• 8 x dried apricots, cut in half
• 4 x Angelino plums, about 240g (8.46 oz) washed, sliced in half, stone removed and discarded, (check where the stem would be and if that’s tough just cut a V and remove it) cut into quarters and each segment cut into 1 or 2 pieces
• up to 100ml x (0.211 US pt lqd) water (use half to begin with)

For the topping:

• 100g (3 .52 oz) x self-raising flour (all-purpose flour with baking soda)
• 15 – 20g (0.52 – 0.70 oz) x light brown sugar, less or more to personal taste
• 20g (o.70 oz) x molasses raw cane sugar, less or more to personal taste
• 30g (1.05 oz) x butter, at room temperature
• about 2 x level dst oil (use half first, incorporate fully, then add more)

Measurements within brackets above are approximate only.

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 200°C, 392°F or Gas 6
• If using ripe pears skip the next instruction – although do poach the dried apricots to rehydrate them and the plums.
• Prep the lemon and have the juice in a suitable bowl. Prepare the pears and place in the lemon juice. When all of the pears are ready add them to a large heavy-based saucepan with half of the water (and the lemon juice). Put on electric heat No 3 for up to 30 minutes (if pears are very firm). Add the sliced apricots at this stage, too. When the pears are no longer crunchy take off heat and set aside. Do check them, and if necessary add more water.
• In the meantime prep the plums and add to the pears and poach those. Or, if the pears are ripe poach the plums until they’re nicely soft, or as soft as needed.
• Cut the butter (at room temperature) into small cubes. Add flour and sugars to a large suitable bowl and add the butter. Either with your hands or with a pastry blender blend the mixture until it starts to feel like sand. The proper way is to get this completely combined with no lumps, especially the raw cane sugar. Squish any small lumps of the raw cane sugar between fingers to incorporate fully.
• Transfer all of the fruit mixture to a suitable ovenproof dish. Spoon over the topping as evenly as possible. Put on the second shelf up if using electric. I used to place this on the second shelf down when using gas. Cook for 20 – 30 minutes until the topping if golden brown. And the filling is starting to bubble around the edges.
• Serve crumbles with cream (single/light or double/heavy), ice cream or thin custard.

Coring the pears and removing the threads that lead up to the stem by cutting a V shape along them.

All photographs within Feed the piglet:
All rights reserved – Copyright © johnnysenough hepburn

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