I love the generous crunchy topping on the fruit crumble, which is bursting with wintery flavours. I have used rhubarb and apple, plus you can add a few frozen raspberries or some of those home preserves you made at the end of summer. I often throw in feijoas with the apples for a taste sensation. Remember, when using pastry as the base it is imperative that you bake it blind or it will be soggy.
Pastry
| 150 g | Flour |
| 2 Tbsp | Sugar |
| 3 Tbsp | Water, cold |
| 90 g | Butter |
Filling
| 4 | Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped (Main) |
| 4 stalks | Rhubarb, cut into 2cm pieces (Main) |
| ⅓ cup | Water |
| ¼ cup | Sugar |
| ½ | Oranges, zest of |
Topping
| ½ cup | Flour |
| 1 cup | Rolled oats, large |
| ¼ cup | Sunflower seeds |
| ¼ cup | Mixed nuts, I used almonds and cashews |
| ½ tsp | Cinnamon |
| 60 g | Butter, melted |
Directions
- Preheat an oven to 180C.
- To make pastry, place flour, sugar and butter into a food processor. Blitz until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add water and blitz until it starts to form a ball. Place on floured bench.
- Roll pastry to fit a 24cm x 3cm deep pie dish. Press carefully into dish, cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Bake blind in oven for 20 minutes. Remove and add filling and topping.
- To make filling, place apple, rhubarb and water in a medium-sized pot. Cover and bring to a simmer for 8 minutes until fruit has softened but not lost its shape. Add sugar and zest and stir through. Spoon into pastry case.
- To make topping, place flour, oats, seeds, nuts and cinnamon in a bowl. Add melted butter and stir through. Spread on top of apple and rhubarb mixture, piling it up to create a crunchy topping.
- Place into oven for 20-30 minutes until golden. Serve hot with ice cream or whipped cream.
