Fruit Crumble

Crumbles have personality, they are intricately tied to the taste and the quality of the fruit itself. It is very risky to put in fruit that is very sour or unripe. You can tell if a stone fruit is ripe by cutting it lengthwise the entire circumference, and then twisting. If it comes off the stone easily, it is ripe. It’s also a good idea to taste a sliver of the fruit and make sure you like it.

Fruit Mixture

1/4 – 1/2 cup of sugar, depending upon sweetness of fruit.**
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 lemon, both juice and zest
6 cups of fruit, approximately 12 medium sized pieces of fruit. Experiment with different fruit!

Topping

1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup oats

Preheat oven to 180C / 350F
Mix dry ingredients of fruit mixture.
Add cut fruit and lemon.
Mix and let sit.
In a smaller bowl, cut butter and brown sugar together.
Add flour and oats until crumb-like.
Put fruit mix into baking dishes, either large or individual sized.
Add topping so that it covers as much of the top as possible.
Put into oven for at least 30 minutes.
It must be bubbling and crumble browned.
Cool a bit before eating.

** More sweet needs less sugar. I realize that this is a bit of a “loose” recipe, and there was a time that I didn’t like that. I have come to realize that not all baking is precise, especially if you are using fruit. By the way, my favorite fruit combination is currently peaches and blueberries. I realize that blueberries are not a stone fruit but they are oh so good.