Bramble Crumble (also Apple Crumble)

I make this every autumn when the berries are ripe. I always add apples into the Bramble Crumble. It stretches out the berries if you don't have many because the pickers have been eating them and the apples hold their shape better. My youngest boy, George's favourite desert in all the world is Apple Crumble.

Preheat your oven to 350 F or about 200 C

Crumble topping:

120 g plain flour

pinch of salt

90 g butter

3 big tablespoons of light brown (muscovado) sugar

3 tablespoons white sugar

If you are making Apple Crumble on its own, I often add cinnamon and a bit of porridge oats into the crumble mixture and a dash of cinnamon into the fruit too.

Put all the ingredients into a bowl and with the tips of your fingers rub it all in together until you have the consistency of porridge oats (dried oatmeal)

Place your blackberries (brambles) and two apples that have been peeled and sliced into a casserole dish. For Apple Crumble, just put peeled and sliced apples into the dish. I sometimes sprinkle a bit of flour onto the fruit and toss it around a bit to coat the fruit just so that the flour will absorb some of the liquid and prevent the crumble from getting too soupy.

You know the size of your own casserole dish and you'll know when you've layered enough fruit into the bottom of it.

Sprinkle the crumble topping on the top of the fruit and pop it in the oven.

Bake it until the top is toasty brown and the fruit juices are bubbling up in a couple of places.

Remove it from the oven and LET IT COOL for a little while before serving. If you serve this straight from the oven, you'll burn yourself and possibly anybody else who eats it at this temperature.

It is wonderful served with custard or cream or ice cream.

George doesn't like his crumble "messed with" - he eats it on its own.