Berry Crumble

1. To begin, halve the strawberries, peel and chop the apples into approximately 1cm squares and then on a low heat, place them in to a pan along with the raspberries, blueberries, brown sugar and gin until the mixture begins to slightly bubble, if you are not using gin add water instead. Once the mix has broken down, add it to a ovenproof dish that you will be using to bake the crumble.
2. While the fruit is cooling, add the flour, caster sugar & 1tbs of oats to a bowl, then cut the butter into small squares and add it in to the bowl, cutting the butter into pieces makes it easier to handle. I like to use salted butter as it add’s a bit more definition to the crumble but you can use unsalted, I would not recommend using margarine.
3. Using your middle finger, index finger and thumb, rub the mix together in a pinch & rub motion.
4. Once you have a ‘crumble’ consistency, layer 90% it over the fruit, I find it spreads more evenly to spoon the mix around the outside of the dish and work your way inwards, then press down so you cannot see any of the fruit (this may be easier to do with your hands than a spoon).
5. Once you have a nice layer, tip over the remaining crumble mix and leave it loose on top, then sprinkle over the remaining oats, brown sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon powder.
6. In a pre-heated oven at 180c, place the crumble into the middle of the oven and leave to bake for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes turn the oven off and leave to rest for 10 minutes before serving. Serve warm with ice cream or custard.

Tip – Plain porridge oats work best for this but if you only have flavoured instant porridge that would work too, it just may not give as much of a crunch as they tend to be a more fine consistency. This crumble works really well if you swap the berries & gin for pears and a little cinnamon.