Apple and Blackberry Crumble

One of my all time faves, Apple and Blackberry crumble is just what you need on a miserable English Autumn evening. The beauty of this recipe is, it can be cooked in the traditional way with the crumble on top of the fruit or the crumble and the fruit can be cooked seperately and well in advance, then put together for snazzy- looking individual servings at the last minute.

Ingredients:

10 Russet or Cox's apples
6oz of fresh (preferably handpicked) blackberries
a knob of butter
seeds of 1 vanilla pod
1/2 a stick of cinnamon
4oz of caster sugar
2 tblspns of cider (or water)

For the crumble:
2oz of caster sugar
4oz of unsalted butter
6oz of plain flour

Method:

1. Peel, core and roughly chop the apples.

2. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the apples, vanilla, cinnamon, cider and sugar and cook until the apples are beginning to soften. Increase the heat and cook until the mixture begins to turn the lightest golden caramel color, carefully tossing around. At this point the the apples should be tender with just a little bite in the center.

3. Remove from the heat, add the blackberries, gently stir then cover and cool. Discard the cinnamon.

For the crumble:
Place the butter, flour and sugar in a bowl and, using your fingertips (or an electric food mixer!), rub together until the mixture resembles something between sand and gravel.

You have several options at this point.

For the traditional route:
Spoon the fruit into an oven proof dish and sprinkle the crumble on top. If you top with too much crumble most of it will end up like a heavy, stodgy mess -- A thin topping will give a better crumble.
Transfer to the oven, preheated to 200°C and bake for 20 minutes until golden and yummy. Serve with custard.

Alternative route:
Spread the crumble topping onto a tray, bake until golden then break it up a little using the side of a pallette knife as it cools.
Reheat the fruit filling in a microwave then spoon into individual dishes or moulds, sprinkle the crumble on top and bake for three to four minutes in an oven at 200°C.