Blackberry Crumble

I wasn’t planning on blogging this blackberry crumble recipe but it turned out to be very tasty so I thought it would be good to keep a record of it here, and share it with you, my readers, of course!

Yet again I took my children to the very local pick-your-own farm, where we picked some huge blackberries that are just starting to ripen. If you don’t have freshly picked blackberries from the garden or farm, then blackberries from the shops will of course work just as well.

Summer fruits

My eldest daughter asked me to make a crumble for after our Sunday dinner with the blackberries, and I knew the rest of the family would love that too. They were a little tart so crumble seemed a good way to use them, even if it is summer.

Blackberries in our garden seem to ripen quite early lately so we have been nibbling them all through August. 

I am loving rosewater right now (I used it in my gooseberry frangipane tart last week as well) so added some to the fruit just before cooking. The flavours went really well together and the blackberry crumble just has that taste of summer I love. Now I know that some people find rose flavour quite soapy so feel free to leave it out if that is the case for you, or you don’t have any. It works really well without too.

If you think crumbles are only for autumn and winter, think again – with a bit of summer fruit it can be an excellent summer dessert too. I like to eat crumble cold from the fridge (shush don’t tell!)!

Foraging

Long walks in the late summer are alway made better by picking a tub full of blackberries from the brambles en route. Just remember some of the main tips for picking blackberries:

• avoid fruit growing by the road due to car fumes
• avoid fruit growing low down (dogs and foxes may have been marking the area!)
• look for other blackberry pickers to find a good area
• wash your blackberries over before using
• freeze or refrigerate and use within a couple of days of picking

Ingredients

• blackberries – foraged, from your garden or farmers market, or even tinned or frozen.
• sugar – either granulated or caster sugar, which ever you have to hand
• rose water – optional but adds flavour.
• butter – I always use unsalted as that is what I keep in the fridge.
• flour – plain flour is best for crumbles as you don’t want the crumble to rise!

Step by step

Rinse the blackberries (500 g) and put them in a medium-sized ceramic dish.

Sprinkle over the sugar (6 tsp). You can adjust the amount of sugar to taste, check if your blackberries are tart or sweet at the beginning.

Now make the crumble topping. In a separate bowl, rub the butter (70 g) into the plain flour (125 g) until it resembles large bread crumbs, then stir through the sugar (65 g).

If using rose water, add it to the blackberries now, before sprinkling over the crumble topping.

Bake for 40-45 minutes (oven 180 degrees C / 350 degrees F) until golden.

Serve with ice cream, cream or custard. Delicious!

Freezing

If you prefer you can freeze the whole crumble before baking. If you do this, you can have a dessert ready for another day very easily. No need to defrost before baking, just bake as stated here.

Pre-cooking

With apple crumbles some people precook the apples before adding the crumble topping. You don’t need to do this with blackberries, they will break down very easily.

Variations

Add in chunks of chopped cooking apples, different summer berries like strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants.

Frozen fruit

If you don’t have fresh blackberries you can also use frozen or tinned (discard the juice). This means you can make blackberry crumble all year round.

More to try

You might also want to try my slow cooker apple crumble and my berry sponge pudding.

If you have more blackberries then you might well love my blackberry traybake, upside down apple and blackberry cake and blackberry scones!

Recipe

Blackberry Crumble

A summery fruit crumble making the best of blackberries

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: British

Keyword: blackberries

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Servings: 8

Calories: 190kcal

Author: Lucy Allen | BakingQueen74

Ingredients

• 500 g blackberries
• 6 tsp granulated sugar
• 2 tsp rose water optional

For the crumble

• 125 g plain flour
• 70 g unsalted butter cut into small cubes
• 65 g caster sugar

UK Measurements - US Measurements

Instructions 

• Wash the blackberries and place them in a medium sized ceramic dish.
• Sprinkle over the sugar. If your berries are really sweet, you can use less sugar of course, just add enough for your taste.
• Make the crumble: rub the butter into the flour until it resembles large breadcrumbs, then mix in the sugar.
• Add the rose water (if using) to the blackberries in the dish, then sprinkle over the crumble topping.
• Bake at 180 degrees for approx. 40 to 45 minutes, or until golden.

Notes

Serve with

Serve with ice cream, cream or custard.

Freezing

If you prefer you can freeze the whole crumble before baking. If you do this, you can have a dessert ready for another day very easily. No need to defrost before baking, just bake as stated here.

Pre-cooking

With apple crumbles some people precook the apples before adding the crumble topping. You don't need to do this with blackberries, they will break down very easily.

Variations

Add in chunks of chopped cooking apples, different summer berries like strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants.

Frozen fruit

if you don't have fresh blackberries you can also use frozen or tinned (discard the juice). This means you can make blackberry crumble all year round.

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