My Favourite Time of Year: Windfall Crumble and Three Weeks with Minnie

It’s almost the middle of July. That can only mean one thing. In the blink of an eye, it will be August. August has become one of my favourite months. Not because of the long, hot summer days (I live in Scotland), but because I get to have three whole weeks with Minnie. For those of you who don’t know, I’m the proudest grandma that has ever lived. Yes, that’s how proud I am of my little people, Minnie and Harley. 

I’ve not persuaded my daughter that I can actually look after the two of them together, so Harley is still on the waiting list for holidays to Scotland. I feel a change in the wind though. Soon.

With a seven-year-old, it’s important to give her exactly what she wants, when she wants it, and how much of it she wants so that we have an easy three weeks. That’s what you would imagine. But it’s not at all like that. Yes, I’m in a good position because I can put everything on hold for the three weeks and do things that she will enjoy. We have picnics, go to the park, go swimming, have a few nights away in Evie the campervan, go foraging for windfall fruit, and do the gardening with grandad. Usually, we also manage to record an episode of Beyond the Tearoom (James Martin’s Saturday Morning Kitchen, in Kirkintilloch, in my kitchen, with my guests). Minnie is an absolute natural for TV. She will be a star, I’m telling you now.

I’ve already started to think about what we might make during our episode of Beyond the Tearoom. It might be the Kilsyth Split, which is the biscuit in Book 7, The Tale of Florence and the New Collar. These are bone-shaped vanilla biscuits, sandwiched together with strawberry buttercream and covered with chocolate and pink sprinkles, along with some surprise popping candy. Each of these little stories has a recipe at the back of the book that I’ve created from ideas given to me by the children at the workshops when we came up with ideas for a new adventure for Florence. I wrote this book after my visit to Kilsyth Primary School. Hopefully, by the time the school holidays are over, this book will be published, and I’ll be able to revisit the school and present the book to them.

That got me thinking that it’s been ages since I’ve talked to you about baking. And you all know how much I love to bake, talk about, and eat cakes and bakes, preferably sharing the delights with a friend or two and a large pot of tea. Yorkshire, of course. So I thought I’d share one of my new recipes with you. I created this for Book 6, The Tale of Florence and the Turtle, which was published last month. When I visited McLean Primary School in Dunfermline, the children had been cooking just before I arrived,  and I was lucky enough to be able to sample their fruit crumble for my lunch that day. It was only natural that Windfall Crumble became the recipe at the end of their book. 

Especially for you all, I’d like to introduce:

The McLean Windfall Crumble

Makes one large and one small crumble

 

 

 

Ingredients

For the Filling

30 g butter, cut into small pieces

6 eating apples, peeled, cored and sliced

3 pears, peeled, cored and sliced

150 g blackberries

350 g raspberries

100 g caster sugar

2 teaspoons mixed spice

 

For the Crumble Topping

225 g plain flour

115 g porridge oats

200 g demerara sugar

Extra demerara sugar to sprinkle on top

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

 

Method

For the Filling

1.       Lightly grease two oven-proof dishes, roughly 6” inch and 8” round.

2.      Add the butter to a pan on the hob on a low heat and allow to melt gently.

3.      Stir in the mixed spice.

4.      Add the chopped apples and sugar and cook for 10 minutes over a low heat, stirring gently.

5.      Add the remaining fruit and cook for five minutes.

6.      Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool slightly as you make the crumble mix.

 

For the Crumble

7.      Preheat the oven to 190 °c/170 °c fan oven.

8.     In a large bowl, rub the butter, flour and oats together with your fingertips until there are no large lumps of butter left.

9.      Stir in the sugar and cinnamon.

10.  Pour the cooked fruit into the greased bowl(s) and cover with the crumble mixture, making both lots of fruit are fully covered.

11.   Press the mixture down gently to make it level and smooth.

12.  Sprinkle some extra demerara sugar over the top and bake for 35 minutes until the top is nicely browned and looks a bit crunchy.

13.  If you have made two crumbles, you could have one now served with lots of hot custard.

14.  Let the other crumble cool completely, then cover it with foil or clingfilm and pop it into the freezer to enjoy another day.

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this week’s blog. If you’d like to read the story that goes with this recipe, why not get yourself a copy of The Tale of Florence and the Turtle?

And, of course, you can see more about all of the books on the website.

 

Click here for The Magical Adventures of Florence the Border Collie

 

You can also watch and listen to these stories on my new YouTube channel. There’s a new episode each Sunday at 9.00 am. This week, I will continue The Tale of Florence and the Dragon, which is Book 2 in the series.

 

Click here for Storytime with Mother Murphy