With the decidedly frosty weather lately, it seems an appropriate time to take out the winter foods, aka comfort foods , aka the foods to eat under the doona or quilt (if I actually let my husband do that). I am not a big fan of Winter. Indeed, my husband and I would love to “migrate” to warmer weather during Winter if we had the bank account to match. So the only thing I look forward to in Winter is wearing hats and gloves and eating warming comfort food. This helps me bide my time until Spring and Summer.
I love crumbles but at the risk of sounding unhealthy, if I am to be honest, I prefer the topping so I always make sure that there is plenty of buttery, nutty, oaty topping on my crumbles. Crumbles are also great for fruit that isn’t as sweet or luscious as one would like. I suggest ice cream for this as plums can be a little tart and I find that clotted cream by itself isn’t quite sweet enough. And I also love this recipe as you get something in the “Bonus Round”. That is, you get a bonus cupful of fragrant plum and pear flavoured syrup to mix with some sparkling mineral water.
Plum and pear crumble
- 250mls (1 cup) water
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon or 1 cinnamon stick
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 120g (2/3 cup, lightly packed) brown sugar
- 800g plums, quartered, stones removed
- 2 pears, cored and cut into pieces
For topping
- 80g butter
- 120g plain flour
- 100g brown sugar
- 40g rolled oats
- 80g nuts (I used macadamias and pecans) coarsely chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- Ice cream to serve
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Combine the water, vanilla essence, cinnamon and brown sugar in a medium heavy-based saucepan and stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and simmer, uncovered, for 6-8 minutes or until mixture is slightly syrupy. Add the plums and pears and simmer for 3-4 minutes or until the fruit are just tender.
3. Cool and drain the plums of most of the syrup – you don’t need the fruit to be bone dry, some syrup is still nice and helps to have the claret shaded juice to bubble up at the edges.
4. Place plums in the base of a 20cm pie plate
5. To make crumble topping, combine butter and flour in a medium sized bowl. Mix with your fingers until it is combined, then add in oats. At first, it won’t be like fine breadcrumbs as there is a bit more butter but once you add the oats it will be like coarse breadcrumbs. Add brown sugar, nuts, cinnamon and baking powder. Mix well.
6. Top fruit in dish with this rubbly mix. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden.
7. Serve with ice cream
For a refreshing drink, mix 1 part spiced plum and pear syrup with 4 parts sparkling mineral water.
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13 Comments | Add your own
i’m all about the topping, too–that’s what makes it so comforting! it looks downright delicious and soul-satisfying.
My goodness, this is food porn.
What a delicious dessert. I love baking with fruit – and your photos are breathtaking, sweetie!
topping’s the best part! plum and pear is a great combo, nad the color is amazing!
Hi grace-That’s good to know that there are fellow topping favourers. My husband loves the fruit but not so much the topping so it works out well. Thanks! It was just what we needed on a rainy cold day
Hi Patricia-Hehe thanks! That’s what I was hoping for
Thankyou so much luvvie!
Hi Steph-Yay, more topping fans! I feel so unhealthy favouring it but it’s just so damn tasty. Thanks, I love the colours too, especially when it peeked out from the sides.
i love crumbles too and definitely lots of topping. you are at the onset of winter…while we are still patiently waiting for our summer to start…i have been told not to hold my breath though! the unpredictability of the irish weather is the one thing you can actually rely on! wrap up well
Hi airy fairy-Yes we’re the opposite weather now. Which is why my husband and I are flying over to your side of the world in a couple of months, to escape the cold! We’re finding the seasons are shortened, for us, summer was shorter here as was winter last year. One of those weird global warming things perhaps?
Enjoy your sun and summer cooking!
Ah, perfect. I’m having a party next weekend (argh – 60 people) and I’m going to make a huge crumble for dessert. I’ve got my fave topping recipe but was wondering what fruit base to use – hope you don’t mind if I steal a little inspiration!
I’ll blog about the party food (hmmm, chocolate mascarpone tart) in return.
Hi SydneyGal-You’re rather brave having a 60 person party! But a huge crumble would go down very well in this weather. Of course I don’t mind at all!
And yes do let us know about the chocolate mascarpone tart-sounds fabulous!
A woman after my own heart when it comes to a combo of pecans/macadamia’s in anything.. and also having heaps of crumble -because I love all of that so much! Winter though is kind-of my friend. I’m actually comforted by winter – it appeals to the “cover up my bits” part in me.. and the “have the heater on and be cosy on the couch with a loved one” part in me too.
I sometimes wonder if I were a size 12 or 10 if I’d be more social and more inclined to want to be seen in summery clothes.. As my slim friends seem to be. So WHEN I get to goal weight I’ll reassess my season preferences no doubt.
As I’m typing this I have a loaf of banana bread in the oven! I baked a loaf on Friday when my inlaws were here.. but I’ve tweaked the recipe some more to see how it goes. Hopefully this loaf will be *it*!!
My husband is lovin’ this competition
This crumble Lorraine just looks absolutely delicious… well done!!
Hi Maria-Mmm yes I’m nuts about good nuts!
Ahhh you see I prefer cute little summer dresses and things like that and I find lots of layers confining. I do see the appeal of staying in a warm house with a loved one though! I’m sure you’ll reach your goal weight, you’re very disciplined and determined which is what you need to be.
Oh excellent! I can’t wait to see the banana bread that you bake! Hehe yes husbands do seem to reap the benefits of cooking don’t they?
Thankyou so much Maria!
Ooh I have to make a dish for teachers’ morning tea tomorrow and only have old plums and pears in the fridge and no baking tins, so I’ll give this a go – will let you know how it works out!
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[...] recipe here is a cross between my usual crumble and that of the lovely Not Quite Nigella, who had happened to make and blog about a crumble made from my less-than-typical fruit combo of [...]
[...] recipe here is a cross between my usual crumble and that of the lovely Not Quite Nigella, who had happened to make and blog about a crumble made from my less-than-typical fruit combo of [...]
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