crumble appreciation society

of which, I am the president.  This post is for the benefit of my sister, who needs to learn that dairy free alternatives cannot possibly replace butter in this, the king of puddings.  And I am not one of those food snobs who suggests crumbles are only for the autumn.  I'd say almost any fruit is crumblable.  Make it with seasonal fruit and it will be delicious all year round.

For the crumble:

1 cup plain flour (150g)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and diced (110g)
5-6 tbsp vanilla sugar or Demerara sugar, or preferably a mixture of both (80g)

Whizz the flour and butter and baking powder in a food processor until rubbly (you can also use self raising flour and omit the baking powder). Mix in the sugars.  Take my advice and do up double or even triple this amount, it will keep in the fridge for weeks, appearing at that perfect time when you are craving something sweet and fruity and those overripe peaches are calling you.  Tip over the fruit of your choice, bake at 180c for as long as it takes to cook the fruit and go crunchy golden on top.

(If you are using peaches, cherries, raspberries, strawberries, other sweet, soft fruits, don't worry about cooking them or adding any sugar.  Otherwise cook your fruit with a bit of sugar, water and maybe a knob of butter and cinnamon or lemon etc before tipping into a dish, covering with crumble and watching the oven until it's ready to eat with a big dollop of ice cream, unless you've made your own custard, in which case you are my hero.)