This Easy Blackberry Crumble features delicious ripe blackberries (fresh or frozen) topped with a perfectly light and crisp crumble topping. It’s quick, simple and virtually foolproof – giving you perfect blackberry crumble every time!
Just blackberries in a crumble? Yes it works!
Blackberry And Apple Crumble is such a classic and one of my favourite crumbles. But one day when I was planning new recipes for Easy Peasy Foodie, I started wondering if just blackberries on their own, without the apples, would work in a crumble…
Well, there’s only one way to find out, and so I got experimenting in my kitchen… and it turns out blackberries on their own in a crumble works brilliantly. I like it just as much as the blackberry and apple version.
Better still, my blackberry crumble is quick, simple and virtually foolproof – giving you perfect blackberry crumble every time!
How to make blackberry crumble
Blackberry crumble is SO easy to make!
All you need to do is rub together flour and butter, then add sugar, and that is your topping made. Next, put the blackberries in an oven dish and sprinkle over caster sugar and plain flour, and stir. Then add lemon juice and stir again.
Finally sprinkle over the crumble topping and bake for 40-45 minutes or until your crumble is golden on top, and the filling is bubbling.
(Full recipe given in the recipe card below.)
Fresh or frozen blackberries for a crumble?
And if you are wondering whether it’s best to use fresh or frozen blackberries in blackberry crumble, I have good news…
Both fresh AND frozen blackberries work brilliantly in crumble!
So you can make blackberry crumble with fresh blackberries when it’s blackberry season and frozen blackberries the rest of the year.
When is blackberry season?
This obviously depends where in the world you are, as well as what the weather was like during the growing season…
But here in the UK the blackberry season is usually from the beginning of August to the end of September.
But sometimes, if growing conditions are right, the season can start in late July and/or extend into early October.
(Though there is an old superstition in the UK that blackberries picked after Michaelmas Day – the 29th September – are cursed !)
What to serve with blackberry crumble
Personally, I like to serve this crumble with lashings of custard!
But blackberry crumble is also delicious with cream, ice cream or yogurt.
What to drink with blackberry crumble
If you’re keeping things traditional, then you can’t go wrong with a cup of tea or coffee!
But if (like me!) you are a fan of dessert wines, then blackberry crumble is very wine friendly and goes brilliantly with Sauternes (or similar sweet wines from Bordeaux), Chenin-based dessert wines from the Loire – such as Coteaux du Layon – or late harvest (spätlese) Rieslings from Germany.
Make it your own!
This crumble is so easy to adapt to your own personal tastes or to whatever you happen to have in your cupboards / fridge. For example, you could:
- Swap half the blackberries for diced Bramley apple or Conference pears
- Swap all or half the blackberries for blackberries and/or raspberries and/or blackcurrants
- Swap all or half the blackberries for frozen mixed berries
- Use cinnamon instead of lemon juice
- Use brown sugar instead of white
- Swap half (or all) the flour for the same quantity of porridge oats
- Swap half (or all) the white flour for the same quantity of wholemeal flour
- Make the topping dairy free and gluten free, as per this recipe
(I’d love to hear about how you have adapted my recipe… Let me know in the comments section below!)
What to do with leftover blackberry crumble?
Leftover crumble keeps brilliantly! Just cover any leftovers (or transfer them to a lidded container) and pop it in the fridge, where it will keep for up to 4 days.
Either eat your leftover pear crumble cold, or reheat in an oven set to 180C (160C fan / gas mark 4 / 350F) for 10-15 minutes – or until piping hot all the way through. (You can also reheat pear crumble in the microwave, if you prefer!)
If you are not able to eat the leftovers straight away, crumble also freezes brilliantly…
Can you freeze blackberry crumble?
Absolutely! Crumble freezes really well. Simply transfer the cooked and cooled pear crumble to a lidded, freezer-safe container and place in the freezer, where it will keep for up to 6 months.
Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat as above.
If you like this recipe…
…you might also like:
Easy Blackberry Crumble
Ingredients
Crumble Topping
- 200 g plain white flour (US - all purpose flour)
- 100 g cold butter cut into roughly 1cm / ½inch cubes (see Note 1)
- 100 g caster sugar (see Note 2)
Crumble Filling
- 500 g blackberries fresh or frozen
- Juice of ½ a lemon or to taste (optional – but recommended!)
- 3 tablespoons caster sugar or to taste
- 1 tablespoon plain white flour (US - all purpose flour)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180C / 160C fan / gas mark 4 / 350F.
- Put the flour and butter in a large bowl and rub together until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs (or do this in a food processor if you prefer).
- Add the 100 g caster sugar and stir. (There is no need to sieve the flour or sugar, as a bit of a rough texture is what is needed for a good crumble!) Set the crumble mixture to one side and prepare the filling.
- Put the blackberries in the dish you are planning to use to cook the crumble in and sprinkle over 3 tablespoons of caster sugar and 1 tablespoon of plain flour. Stir everything together until the blackberries are evenly coated.
- Add the juice of ½ a lemon and stir again.
- Sprinkle over the crumble topping – this can be quite rough and ready, but make sure all the fruit is covered. If it looks a bit too neat on top, rough it up a bit. You want lots of peaks and troughs to give it that really good crumble texture.
- Put your crumble in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until it is golden on top, and the filling is bubbling. Serve with custard, cream, ice cream or yogurt.
Notes
- You can use margarine if you prefer, but personally I find the flavour and texture far better with butter.
- You can use brown sugar if you prefer, but I find the caster sugar works better with blackberries.
- You can use fresh or frozen blackberries here. If you are using frozen blackberries, there is no need to defrost them before making this recipe.
- Suitable for freezing.
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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Christine says
I left a message last week that didn’t appear on the comment box and I didn’t receive a response from you. This was in reference to naming this crumble as American! I live in NY and they have crisps and cobblers.
Eb Gargano says
Oooh – I am sorry but that message didn’t get through to me. I have a spam filter, so it’s possible that message got accidentally flagged as spam. (I get 100s of spam messages a day, so there is no way I can go through them hunting to see if anything got accidentally flagged. However, now you have had a message approved by me, there should be no issue with your messages getting flagged as spam!)
What was your exact question?