Delicious sweet treats

Blackberry and apple crumble

SERVES 6

3-4 large cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into big chunks
1 tablespoon water
2-3 tablespoons sugar
225g (8oz) blackberries - frozen is okay
FOR THE CRUMBLE:
175g (6oz) plain white flour
75g (2¾oz) butter
75g (2¾oz) Demerara sugar

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/ gas 4. Put the apple chunks, water and sugar into a saucepan over a low heat and cook until the apples are soft and pulpy, about 10 minutes. While it's cooking, stir it every minute or so to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the saucepan. Taste and add more sugar if it needs it. Transfer the apple pulp into individual bowls or one big pie dish and allow to cool slightly. Put the blackberries on top of the apple now. To make the crumble, rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs (if you rub it in too much, the crumble won't be crunchy). Add the sugar. Sprinkle this crumble mixture over the slightly cooled apple and bake for 15 minutes for small crumbles or 30-45 minutes for large crumbles, or until the crumble is cooked and golden. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

NOTE: The apple pulp is basically the same as apple sauce, as you would serve with roast pork, so this is a great way of using up any leftover apple sauce.
NOTE: If you prefer to leave out the blackberries, you could add ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon or a few cloves to the apple. Crumbles can be made with practically any fruit.
NOTE: I sometimes use different sugars in the crumble, such as dark brown, caster, etc. I also occasionally put some oats into the crumble or nuts, like chopped pecans, walnuts, almonds, etc.
NOTE: If you want to use less sugar, you can cook eating apples instead of the cooking variety. When cooked, eating apples have a slightly less fluffy texture, but it will still be good; just cut out most of the sugar when cooking the apples.