THIS week Flintshire amateur cook Charlotte is sharing a recipe for a crunchy crumble that can utilise foraged fruits at this time of year.

Charlotte Seddon, who reached the semi-finals of this year’s MasterChef, says the dessert takes about an hour to prepare and will serve four.

The Leader:

Charlotte said: “I love this time of the year, growing your own fruit and veg is rewarding but foraging always feels better and nature has done all the hard work for you. Towards the end of August all the blackberries start to come out along the public footpaths in our area. We are very lucky in that we have many on our doorstep in Deeside, and they are so quiet our cats will often follow us on our forage so it’s a real family outing. There is also a massive apple tree on the farm which provides more than enough apples to keep us going. These two key ingredients mean apple and blackberry crumble have become a seasonal favourite in our home.

“I like to include nuts in as many dishes as possible, especially desserts as they add an extra crunch. You can swap the pistachios for other nuts such as walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans or almonds. It’s a good way to get rid of some left-over nuts in the cupboard.

“If you have an allergy or do not like them you can always remove them completely from the recipe.”

The Leader:

Ingredients

Crumble Topping:

  • 30g pistachio nuts
  • 75g plain flour
  • 50g golden caster sugar
  • 65g unsalted butter
  • 40g rolled oats

Filling:

  • 500g Bramley apples
  • 200g blackberries
  • 25g butter
  • 25g demerara sugar
  • ½ lemon (zest only)

The Leader:

Method

Crumble topping:

1. Heat oven to 180 degrees

2. Place the pistachio nuts on an oven tray and roast for 6-8 minutes until they become fragrant

3. Allow to cool and roughly chop

4. Add the plain flour, golden caster sugar and unsalted butter into a bowl and rub together between your fingers until they form breadcrumbs. Try not to overwork it.

5. Mix in the rolled oats and chopped pistachios

The Leader:

Filling:

1. Peel, core and cut the apples into quarters then cut into wedges around 2cm wide

2. Melt the butter and demerara sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat until the butter has melted

3. Add in the apples and lemon zest and cook for 3 minutes stirring to coat the apples in the butter and sugar

4. Add in the blackberries and cinnamon and cook for around 3-4 minutes with the lid on then remove from the heat

5. Transfer to an oven proof baking dish and push down so that there are not many gaps for the crumble to fall down

6. Top with the crumble and bake in the oven for 25 minutes

7. Serve with custard or ice cream