Yesterday I took Lara blackberry picking down the country lanes near to our house. A child hasn't really lived until they have innocently plunged their arm into a bush of brambles and stinging nettles right up to the shoulder, have they? Our pickings weren't that impressive but we wanted to make something from them straight away and I knew Lara wouldn't be that into a big crumble so I thought we would try making mini individual blackberry and apple crumbles to see if they were more appealing to her.
MINI BLACKBERRY AND APPLE OATY CRUMBLES (makes 12)
INGREDIENTS
For the filling
150g blackberries (washed)
65g light brown soft sugar (we used a light muscovado)
50g butter
2 small eating apples
For the topping
100g rolled oats
80g plain flour
30g light brown soft sugar
30g granulated brown sugar such as Demerara
75g butter
METHOD
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
- Core and chop the apples. I thought peeling them would probably be a bit beyond a three year old so we left the skins on - it also helps the apple chunks to keep their shape.
- Melt the butter for the filling in a medium-sized pan and then add in the apples and coat them in the butter. Put the lid on the pan and let the apples stew in their own moisture for 5 minutes. Then add the blackberries and sugar for the filling, stir very gently and then stew for another 5 minutes.
- Rub the butter and flour for the topping together until it resembles breadcrumbs (actually due to the volume of butter, it'll be more like moist breadcrumbs).
- Stir in the oats and two types of sugar and combine well.
- Place a little of the blackberry and apple mixture in the bottom of 12 cuupcake cases and top each of them with some of the crumble mixture. Pat them down a little with your fingers.
- Bake on a baking tray for 15-20 minutes until golden on top and the filling is blackening around the edges.
- Best served with a scoop of ice-cream on top (but Lara doesn't like ice-cream so she's a spoil sport).
