With the arrival of Autumn, we embarked on a search for the best blackberry and apple crumble recipe to enjoy in Cornwall this season.
The Cornish Chef (@the_cornish_chef) the Duchy’s mysteriously anonymous food champion – very kindly agreed to share his take on this ultimate autumnal dessert with us; why not make it this weekend?
These beautiful images are courtesy of food photographer and stylist Ali Green. Check out her Instagram feed @workbyali but be warned, it will make you hungry!
At this time of year our regular strolls through the woods and fields of Cornwall take on a new urgency, as we search for everyone’s favourite foraged ingredient; the blackberry. This juicy crop, paired with crisp Cornish apples and a deliciously crunchy topping, is almost enough to compensate for the end of summer – almost!
The Cornish Chef was born and bred in here in the Duchy. He is passionate about provenance and advocates hearty, home-style cooking which celebrates the best local and seasonal ingredients. He has chosen to remain enigmatically anonymous, claiming that “it’s all about the food, rather than the face” – very refreshing!
This crumble recipe is a great one to make with kids, who will enjoy foraging for the blackberries, helping to stir the topping together, and finally eating this with a good dollop of ice cream or custard…
Staying true to our Cornish roots, as well as Hugo’s Muesli (view stockists here) we recommend using butter from Trewithen Dairy to make this delicious crumble extra-special. We also suggest serving it with either Roskilly’s Clotted Cream Ice Cream or The Frozen Custard Company’s Blackberry and Apple Custard.
Foraged Blackberry & Apple Crumble Recipe
Ingredients
Serves 6-8
700g Braeburn apples or mixed foraged apples
75g unsalted butter
50g golden castor sugar
250g foraged blackberries
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
Topping
300g Hugo’s muesli
250g plain flour
225g unsalted butter
100g castor sugar
Method
1. Begin by making a caramel with the golden castor sugar and butter in a pan over a medium heat – when the caramel has reached a light golden brown colour it is ready.
2. In the meantime, peel and core the apples and chop into small pieces. Then fold these into your completed caramel with your cinnamon and cook gently for another minute before removing from the heat and folding in your blackberries.
3. Preheat you oven to 170C while the filling stands.
4. To make the topping, melt the butter and combine with the flour, muesli and sugar until it forms a wet, pliable mix.
5. Place the apple and blackberry mix in a crumble bowl or tin and top with the muesli mix, pushing any fruit underneath the surface so they don’t burn in the oven. Sprinkle over a little sugar and pop the crumble in the oven for about half an hour until nicely golden and browned.
6. Serve with your favourite Cornish ice cream or homemade custard.
We’ll be sharing more seasonal recipes from The Cornish Chef and food stylist Ali Green soon – watch this space!
