The Perfect Blackberry and Apple Crumble Recipe

The trees and hedgerows are laden with fruits & berries along the tracks and riverbanks here at The Basket Company. Blackberries in particular are in bountiful supply and it looks like this year has provided a plentiful harvest.

September is the perfect time to pick the sweetest fruits for all your recipes including pies and desserts and this month, we bring you the epitome of British puddings – a blackberry and apple crumble recipe including freshly picked blackberries.

But first, fill your basket

Ideal for collecting your apples and blackberries from the tracks and hedgerows across the country is our Market Style Trug Basket. Not only is this foragers basket the perfect accessory for harvesting and carrying fresh fruit and vegetables, outside of harvest time, it is ideal for carrying around tools and freshly picked flowers (or even weeds)

Now here’s what you’ve been waiting for…

For the crumble mixture:

250g plain flour
125g margarine or unsalted butter
75g white sugar (save 1tbsp for sprinkling on top of crumble)
50g light brown sugar
3 tbsp rolled oats
Pinch of cinnamon

For the fruit mixture:

3 to 4 large apples
3 handfuls blackberries
50g white sugar
25g light brown sugar
Pinch of cinnamon

To make the crumble mixture:

1. Firstly, pre heat the oven to 180C, 350F, Gas mark 4.
2. Rub the margarine into the flour until it resembles bread crumbs.
3. Stir in the white and light brown sugar.
4. Stir in the oats and cinnamon.
5. Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge until needed.

To make the fruit mixture:

6. Peel and core the apples and chop each apple into 8 slices.
7. Place apple slices into a saucepan with the white sugar, light brown sugar & a generous pinch of cinnamon.
8. Cover saucepan with lid and cook on hob on lowest heat possible for 10 mins stirring regularly.
9. Wash the blackberries and add to the saucepan with the stewed apple.
10. Cover saucepan with lid and cook on hob on lowest heat possible for another 5 mins stirring regularly until the apple and blackberries have softened but are not sludgy.
11. Take fruit mixture off heat and leave to cool for a few minutes.

Assemble and cook crumble:

12. Pour the fruit mixture into an oven proof dish.
13. Smooth out the fruit mixture.
14. Remove crumble mixture from the fridge and give it a bit of a stir to loosen up any bits that may have stuck together.
15. Pour the crumble mixture into the dish on top of the fruit and smooth over the top.
16. Sprinkle the remaining 1 tbsp of white sugar evenly over the top of the crumble.
17. Cook in the oven at 180C, 350F, Gas mark 4 for approx. 30 minutes or until the top is starting to turn a golden brown. Keep checking the crumble to make sure it doesn’t burn.
18. Serve your crumble with custard, cream and ice cream. Yes all three so no one’s disappointed.

We’d love to see what you’ve made. Take a photo of your final result and share it on Instagram and tag us @thebasketcompany

For more choices of trugs visit our trug department here, which are also suitable to use when foraging.

To browse more pages of our journal, click here.