Plum Crumble Recipe

Today's dessert is for what has to be one of my favourite puddings of all. Crumbly crumble topping on a base of lightly-stewed plums that's oven baked until the topping is golden and served with rich vanilla custard.

Plus are one of my favourite fruit (though I also do make this recipe with mangos). With South African plums available now (and very tasty I might add), you do not have to wait until autumn to make this delicious pudding.

Plum Crumble Recipe

Serves: 6–8

A crumble is probably one of the most versatile desserts you can make. The base can be made with just about any fruit that softens on cooking and a crumble topping is one of the easiest things in the world to prepare. Though this version uses plums, you can substitute just about any fruit you can imagine.

Ingredients:

450g (1 lb) pitted plums
50g (1/4 cup) light muscovado sugar
1 tbsp water
juice of 1 lemon

For the Crumble Topping:

50g (2 oz) plain flour
25g (1 oz) coarse rolled oats
50g (1/4 cup) light muscovado sugar
50g (1/4 cup) butter, softened

Method:

Halve and pit the plums then place in a pan with the sugar, water and lemon juice. Mix well then gently bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves.

Cook the plums until they are just beginning to soften then take off the heat and turn the contents of the pan into a deep pie dish.

For the topping, combine the flour, oats, sugar and butter in a bowl and rub together with your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

Sprinkle the crumble topping over the fruit so that you have a decent and even thickness over the top. Transfer to an oven pre-heated to 200ºC (400ºF, Gas Mark 6) and bake for 20 minutes, or until the top is crunchy and brown.

Serve hot with cream, ice cream or custard (my favourite is to serve this with rice pudding).

For more fruit-based recipes why not visit the Celtnet Fruit and Fruit-based recipes pages.