Tasty Tuesdays - Crunchy Pear Crumble (The Hungry Student One Pot Cookbook)

I don’t know about you, but there’s something intensely comforting about a fruit crumble. Maybe it’s the creativity such a dessert allows you, to use whatever ingredients you like to make it your own, or maybe it’s the soul-warming quality of stewed fruit and sugary crumble topping, or maybe it’s just the potential simplicity – I mean, anyone can pour a can of pie filling and some granola into a dish and stick it on ‘bake’, right? Which is why, this fortnight, I’m bringing you all three in the form of ‘The Hungry Student OnePot Cookbook’s’ Crunchy Pear Crumble: it’s versatile, it’s cosy, and it’s simple.

To start, you’ll need your pears. The recipe calls for 6 fresh pears but I found this works just as well with a standard 400g can of pre-peeled pear halves (as I was doing half the quantities, you’ll want 2 cans or 800g for the full amount – and that weight is with the juice). If you’re using canned, you might also want to reserve 1-2 tablespoons of the juice for pouring over the pears – along with 1-2 tablespoons of water, the cinnamon and sugar – before baking them for a little bit.

Now we come to the fun part: making the crumble topping. For quickness, it is suggested that you put all your remaining ingredients into a food processor, but as I’m not overly fond of the amount of washing up required for this, I prefer to do it by hand (which the recipe also kindly suggests). Having made this topping twice now, I can say with a small degree of certainty that for 2-3 people, somewhere around 1 ¼ oz (29g) of soft light brown sugar is
enough to sufficiently sweeten the oat mixture (so 2 ½ oz for 4-6 people). This is especially important as you will be mixing in as much as a full tablespoon of golden syrup just before baking. But cutting back on the sugar isn’t what makes this part fun: it’s the creative licence.

Instead of golden syrup, why not try maple syrup or honey? In place of cinnamon, you could use ginger, ground cloves or nutmeg. You could use wholemeal flour or throw in some mixed seeds or chopped nuts to make it feel a little more rustic. You could even use dark brown sugar (something I have yet to try) for a treacly edge. And, of course, your fruit can be switched out accordingly, from apple and rhubarb, to cherry, blackcurrant, or gooseberry.

The only thing I found a little difficult was getting the golden syrup to mix through the crumble topping evenly; it tended to stick to the spoon and the mixture in big clumps. But with a little perseverance – chopping away with my spoon – I made the clumps smaller and the topping that much more enjoyable for the little crunchy buttery lumps that were formed. All that was missing after a quick spell in the oven was some vanilla ice cream – or custard if you prefer a uniformly warm bowl of comfort.

CRUNCHY PEAR CRUMBLE (serves 6 – or 4 hungry people)

• 6 pears, peeled, cored and chopped
• 2 tablespoons soft light brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons water
• custard to serve

for the topping

• 75g (3oz) soft light brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 125g (4oz) rolled oats
• 75g (3 oz) plain flour
• 75g (3oz) butter
• 1 tablespoon golden syrup

1. Place the pears in a shallow ovenproof dish with the sugar, cinnamon and measured water and stir together. Cover with foil and place in a preheated oven, 190°C (375°F), Gas Mark 5, for 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, make the crumble topping. Place the sugar in a food processor with the cinnamon, oats, flour and butter and pulse until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Alternatively, rub the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingertips. Stir the golden syrup into the topping mixture.
3. Remove the pears from the oven, uncover and scatter the topping over them. Return to the oven for a further 20-25 minutes (remember if you’re using a different fruit to adjust the cooking time) until bubbling and lightly browned. Serve warm with custard.