Delicious summer fruits and Bramley apples make a wonderful filling in this Easy Summer Fruits Crumble. You can use fresh summer fruits when they are in season and frozen summer fruits when they are not. Either way it takes just 15 minutes hands on time and delivers a fabulous pud every time!
A delicious summer pudding!
Sweet summer fruits and tangy Bramley apples, thickly covered in a blanket of crisp crumble topping and served with lashings of custard, cream or ice cream… this Easy Summer Fruits Crumble is one of those perfect puddings that always hits the spot, never goes wrong and is a real crowdpleaser 😀
Super easy to make…
And this delicious Summer Fruits Crumble is super quick and easy to make (only 15 minutes hands on time!) All you need to do is place the fruit in a large saucepan, bring to the boil and then simmer for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, quickly rub together the flour and butter, then stir in the sugar. Finally, assemble the pudding by tipping the fruit into an oven dish, top with the crumble mix and place in a pre-heated oven for 30-40 minutes – until it is crisp and golden on top. Easy peasy!
Should you use plain flour or self-raising flour in a crumble?
Plain flour is the best flour to use in a crumble. It gives a much lighter, crisper, crumblier texture, whereas self-raising flour will give you a denser, more stodgy, ‘cakey’ texture.
However, if you only have self-raising flour to hand, it’s certainly not a disaster, and will still make a decent pud.
Fresh or frozen summer fruits?
One of the best things about this Summer Fruits Crumble is you can use fresh or frozen summer fruits in the filling. It’s perfect for using up a glut of fresh summer fruits (or if you find them at a good price in the shops!), but it works just as well with a bag of frozen summer fruits from the supermarket out of season. I like to use Tesco Frozen Summer Fruits Mix.
Do you have to add apple to summer fruits crumble?
You can absolutely use 100% summer fruits in this crumble, if you prefer. However, after much experimentation (It’s a hard life!), personally I think it tastes much nicer with the addition of Bramley apples. (It also makes it cheaper to make too!)
Do you have to use Bramley apples?
Technically speaking, you could make this with any kind of apples, but if you possibly can, I strongly recommend you use Bramley apples – they have much more flavour when cooked and really work well as a contrast to the sweet summer berries.
Make it your own…
This Easy Summer Fruits Crumble is very easy to adapt, you could:
- Use wholemeal flour in place or some (or all) of the plain white flour
- Use half ground almonds, half plain flour in the topping
- Use oats in place of some (or all) of the flour
- Use the crumble topping in this recipe to make this pudding gluten free, dairy free and vegan
- Stir a handful of chopped nuts into the crumble for added crunch
- Use pears instead of apples in the filling
- Add a teaspoon of cinnamon to the filling
What to serve with summer fruits crumble?
This delicious crumble works well with custard, cream (pouring or whipped), ice cream or yogurt.
What to drink with summer fruits crumble?
If you love dessert wines, then I recommend a Sauternes or any other similar wine from the same region. Other late harvest Sauvignons or Semillons from elsewhere in the world would work well too. Alternatively, a sweet Riesling, Gewürztraminer or Tokaji would also be good options.
If you are not a fan of dessert wines then this traditional pud also goes great with an after dinner coffee or cup of tea!
What to do with leftover crumble?
Leftover crumble is delicious cold the next day! Simply put any leftovers in a lidded container and place in the fridge, where it will keep for up to 4 days.
Alternatively, you can reheat leftover crumble. Place leftovers into an ovenproof dish and place in an oven pre-heated to 180C (160C fan / gas mark 4 / 350F) for 10-15 minutes, or until piping hot all the way through.
Can you freeze crumble?
Absolutely! Put the cooked and cooled crumble in a lidded container and place in the freezer, where it will keep for up to 3 months.
Defrost overnight in the fridge and either eat cold or reheat as above.
If you like this recipe…
…you might also like:
Easy Summer Fruits Crumble
Ingredients
- 500 g Bramley apples (AKA cooking apples) peeled, cores removed and chopped into small pieces (see Note 1)
- 500 g fresh or frozen summer fruits I used Tesco Frozen Summer Fruits Mix
- 1 tablespoon soft light brown sugar or to taste
- 200 g plain white flour (AKA all purpose flour)
- 100 g cold butter cut into 1cm (½inch) cubes (see Note 2)
- 100 g soft light brown sugar (see Note 3)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200C / 180C fan / gas mark 6 / 400F.
- Peel the apples, remove the cores and then chop into bite-sized pieces – roughly 1cm / ½inch square.
- Place the apple pieces and summer fruits in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in 1-2 tablespoons of light brown sugar (or however much sugar gives you a good balance of tart/sweet for your tastes).
- Meanwhile, place the flour and cubed butter in a large bowl and rub together until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs (or do this in a food processor if you prefer – see Note 4).
- Add the 100 g soft light brown 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!)
- Tip the apple/summer fruits mix into the dish you are planning to cook the crumble in.
- 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 30-40 minutes or until it is golden on top, and the fruit is bubbling. Serve with custard, cream, ice cream or yogurt.
Notes
- Make sure you use Bramley apples / cooking apples. 'Eating' apples tend not to have enough flavour when cooked, resulting in a dull and lacklustre crumble.
- You can use margarine if you prefer, but personally I find the flavour and texture far better with butter.
- You can use white sugar if you prefer, but personally I find the flavour and texture far better with light soft brown sugar. For a more caramelized / smoky taste, you could use dark soft brown sugar or muscovado sugar.
- You can use a food processor to rub the butter and flour together, if you prefer. However, you will get a far better result if you do this by hand! (The food processor does the job a bit too perfectly!)
- Suitable for freezing.
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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Amelia Miller says
Looks very tasty. I will definitely try to cook. Thank you.
Eb Gargano says
Yay! Let me know what you think 😀