At the moment, the trees in my garden are heavy with apples and pears, and there are plenty of blackberries appearing in the hedgerows where I walk the dog. This recipe uses all of these fruits and makes a glorious pudding. The topping is a cross between a scone and crumble mixture which gives you a scrumptious, buttery and fruity pud. Serve it with my homemade custard for a delicious and comforting dessert.
Ingredients:
- 3 medium Bramley apples
- 50g caster sugar
- Juice of half a lemon
- 3 ripe pears
- 250g blackberries
- For the topping:
- 250g plain flour
- 125g softened butter
- 100g caster sugar
- 4 tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or ½ tsp vanilla bean paste
- Granulated sugar for sprinkling
Method
- Pre-heat oven to 180°C/160° Fan/350°F/Gas 4
- Peel, core and slice the apples and place them in a pan along with the sugar and the juice of half a lemon. Cook over a gentle heat until the fruit is soft and syrupy
- While the apples are cooking, peel, core and roughly chop the pears
- Add the chopped pears and blackberries to the cooked apples and gently mix together
- Pour all of the fruit into a baking dish.
- Make the topping by putting all the topping ingredients into a food processor and pulse until the mixture comes together in a scone-like dough.
- Spoon the topping over the fruit mixture and sprinkle generously with granulated sugar
- Pop into the oven for 40-45 minutes until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden and crisp
- Serve warm with homemade fresh cream custard…
Proper Custard
Once you have made and tasted your own fresh cream custard there’s no going back to pre-made or packet stuff. The recipe below is very easy and simple to make, it just requires a little patience at the whisking stage as it seems as if the mixture is not going to thicken, but rest assured, it will! A word of warning, though: don’t let the mixture boil as you will end up with something resembling scrambled egg. Keep the heat low, whisk constantly, remain patient. If the phone rings, ignore it!
Ingredients
- 2 large free range egg yolks
- 3 tsp cornflour
- 25g caster sugar
- 1 vanilla pod split lengthways or ½ tsp of vanilla extract or bean paste
- 250ml whole milk
- 250ml double cream
Method
- Put the egg yolks in a medium saucepan with the cornflour and sugar. Add your vanilla essence/bean paste or scraped vanilla seeds into the pan and gently combine all the ingredients with a whisk.
- Gradually whisk in the milk and cream and then place the pan over a low heat and cook gently for approx 8-10 mins, whisking constantly until smooth and thick.
