Sunday, October 17, 2010

Apple, rhubarb & raspberry crumble


There are a lot of things that were simply meant to be together; chocolate and peanut butter, hot weather and popsicles, Buffy and Angel... And then there's my favourite symbiotic pair; rainy days and baking.

When all the birds hide under leafy canopy's and the rain splashes against every window pain and roof tile, creating pools of rippling water beneath my door step I roll up my sleeves and reach for my apron; it's Bakin' Time.

Apple, rhubarb & raspberry crumble
from Mindfood magazine
serves 6

4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and thickly sliced
½ cup caster sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 bunch rhubarb, trimmed, cut into 3cm pieces
125g fresh or frozen raspberries
¾ cup crumbled amaretto biscuits
½ cup plain flour
1/3 cup natural almonds, roughly chopped
½ cup brown sugar
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
125g butter, cubed and chilled


Preheat oven to 180C. Lightly grease a 5-cup-capacity ovenproof baking dish (or 4 dishes with ¼ cup capacity each).

Put apple, caster sugar, cinnamon stick and ¼ cup water in a large saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain apple. Discard cinnamon stick. Transfer to a large bowl to cool. Combine rhubarb and raspberries with cooled apple. Spoon into baking dish.

Put biscuit, flour, almonds, brown sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl. Using fingertips, rub butter into mixture. Sprinkle crumble mixture over fruit. Bake for 20–25 minutes or until crumble is golden.

Serve with cream or ice-cream.



ease: 4/5.
prep time: 20mins.
cooking time: 20mins.
total: 40mins.

taste: 3.5/5. The three Musketeers of the fruit world!


First to tickle the tastebuds is the politely sweet tang of the rhubarb followed by the homely apple, all comfort and hugs. While these two are getting to know each other raspberry knocks on the door with its vibrant tartness before the sweet, nutty and almond-y crumble comes in.

Needless to say, I enjoyed the combination of the three fruits together, if you prefer a little less tartness than perhaps substituting the rhubarb with strawberries would be lovely. The crumble on the other hand, was ok, but the amaretto biscuits added a flavour I don't like in a crumble topping, a regular oat and brown sugar topping would suit this better. It also needs a little more cinnamon for warmth.

would I make it again: Yes to the fruit combo, no to the crumble topping.

recipe: Apple, rhubarb & raspberry crumble

15 comments:

  1. I'll have vanilla bean ice cream with mine thanks :)
    Looks great, oats, raspberry, rhubarb and apple!

    BTW love the reference to buffy and angel, made me laugh thanks for that!

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  2. Your crumble looks omg!delicious. I did an apple and rhubarb crumble once but wasn't so taken by the zing from the rhubarb. But with the addition of raspberry I think it will be quite nice! Lovely, shall have to try it with this new addition!

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  3. Oh, Buffy and Angel. So many pleasant memories of high school ;)

    Love the look of this crumble ! My mum usually refuses to try anything besides her favourite version, but I think I might be able to convince her to try this one via the amaretti biscuits!

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  4. A delicious crumble! A great combo.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  5. Try substituting strawberries for the raspberries - it is a winner!!

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  6. Love the styling of the photo amongst the grass and little flowers :)

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  7. A three fruit crumble, how fabulous! I've never had more than two fruits. I adore raspberries so this looks perfect. Good to know about the topping. I agree, baking and rainy days = heaven :)
    Heidi xo

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  8. Perfect combination of all my favourites. I love crumble and love how you have presented it in the open. Looks like somewhere i would like to be right now... Horrible weather in London. This dish would really cheer me up!

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  9. I agree that rainy days are great times to bake but not always so great for photography. Somehow you seem to have totally avoided that problem. Gorgeous shots :).

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  10. It looks amazing!!! I'd love to sit down in the grass with a spoon and big bowl of that! I do agree about crumbles- lots of cinnamon please! :)

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  11. oh, yes!!! rainy days and baking always go together :)

    and there is nothing better than apple and rhubarb crumble with some hot tea on a day like that :)

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  12. It's always fun to see rhubarb this time of year...probably in season there, but not here. This looks marvelous. Going to copy it to try next spring!

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  13. HA, Buffy & Angel :D Love it. I was totally having a conversation about Angel last night... I am that cool.

    It's funny you should post this 'un because my good friend Daniela came over the other day and made this awesome blackberry crumble for me (and also a blackberry cheesecake, which was impressive, because I only managed to make my Matcha pizza in that time!) and her crumble topping was incredible. I'll have to send it to you.

    Jax x

    PS: I was about to make a comment about how beautifully summery it looks in your photo, then remembered you're in the other hemisphere :P

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  14. ah, what could be better than a tasty crumble among the daisies? :)

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