Summer Memories: Jumbleberry Crumble With Shortbread Topping

French Tart's Note:

This was a quick throw it together Sunday Lunch pudding idea - raid the freezer for all the nearly used bags of frozen summer fruits, such as cherries, raspberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, bilberries (blueberries), blackberries and strawberries. Fling them all into an ovenproof gratin dish; whizz up a shortbread crumble topping - and Bob's your uncle and Fanny's your aunt, as we say down our way!!!! We loved it, the combination of fruits was wonderful - and it is a great idea for using up whatever fruits you have lurking in your freezer. I am sure that fresh fruit would also be suitable. We like our fruits to be on the tart side - so pleased add sugar to taste! Serve the crumble with hot custard, cold custard, cream, ice cream, crème fraiche or whatever you fancy!

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 6

Yield: 1.0 Jumbleb ...

Crumble filling

• 700 g assorted frozen fruit
• blackberry , raspberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, blueberries, bilberries, cherries and strawberries
• 1 -4 tablespoon sugar , to taste

Crumble topping

• 225 g plain flour
• 110 g butter , cut into small pieces
• 75 g caster sugar

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4, 350°F (180°C).
2. You will also need a shallow ovenproof baking dish with a diameter of 9 inches (23 cm), 11/2 inches (4 cm) deep.
3. First, make the topping. All you do is place the sifted flour, butter and sugar in the processor and give it a whiz until it resembles crumbs. If you don’t have a processor, place the flour in a large mixing bowl, then add the butter and rub it into the flour lightly, using your fingertips. Then when it all looks crumbly, and the fat has been dispersed fairly evenly, add the sugar and combine that well with the rest of the ingredients.
4. Now arrange the mixed fruit in the dish and sprinkle over the sugar to taste, then the crumble mixture, spreading it out all over the fruit with a fork. Place the crumble on a high shelf in the oven and bake it for 30 to 40 minutes until the top is golden and crisp. Serve with chilled pouring cream, custard, whipped cream, creme fraiche or vanilla ice cream.

Reviews

[pamelad]

I made this for a dinner party. Simple as it is, I was quite confident I wouldn't go wrong with a recipe by French Tart even though it was the first time I made it. Big hit!

I used the minimum amount of sugar for the fruit and bought unsweetened frozen mixed berries. One chain grocery store had only sweetened berries, so I went to another one and got unsweetened ones.

Our hostess commented that often crumble toppings are either slightly burnt or undercooked, and said this was perfect. Everyone liked the tartness of the berries and not-too-sweet shortbread topping. We served it with vanilla ice cream.

[Amena]

Yum! I had only strawberries to hand and, with 1.5 tablespoons of soft brown sugar it was lovely. Next time I will make it with even more shortbread topping.

[Chicagoland Chef du Jour]

My husband was looking for a "fruit crisp" from his childhood days (w/o oats) but I deduced it was really a crumble. I halved the recipe using an 8x8 glass baking dish. This is the first time I used my food processor for pastry. Super simple to do and the raw dough even tasted great :). I used a blend of frozen raspberries, blueberries and marionberries. Thanks a bunch French Tart for this wonderful treat!