What's the secret to making a crunchy fruit crumble?

Katherine

Katherine

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Once again I've made a soggy crumble. Used plums out of the freezer, gently stewed them and drained off quite a lot of liquid. Probably should have drained them even more, but I was worried I wasn't going to be left with much! Crumble topping was my usual Good Housekeeping one - 6 oz flour, 3 oz butter, 2 oz sugar. A lot of juice bubbled up and covered the crumble, so not surprising it wasn't crunchy.

I suppose the obvious answer is to cook fruit and topping separately, but that doesn't seem quite the same!

Sometimes a crumble turns out reasonably crunchy (blackcurrants seem to work well for this) but is there some secret formula that I should know? Please share your ideas / recipes!
 
I do thinks it’s all about the water content in the fruit, I bet it was yummy anyway!
 
Katherine said:
Yes, it did taste nice! I expect you're right about the water content. I think rhubarb's the worst!
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Yes rhubarb is the trickiest. I think some people add oats to crumble topping, not sure if it makes it any crunchier
 
3, scoops Plain flour, 2scoops butter( must be butter my choice) 2 scoops of brown cane sugar,(again my choice) frozen fruit out freezer, (what ever l grab) fruit into dish, flour, butter and sugar, make into bread crumbs ,put over fruit, l cook in a halogen over,20 minutes, full power,. This mix gives me enough for 2 small pint dishes..or 1/2 to cook and 1/2 to freezer or fridge .
 
A thicker layer of crumble! The way I’ve been taught is more than of the depth of fruit. And using large grained Demerara sugar in the crumble mixture to keep it crunchy. (If making in a food processor, it should be added last and hardly whizzed at all to stop it being ground down)
 
I agree with the demerara and the oats, I also bake the top on a tray and add to the fruit for the last 10 mins so it picks up some flavour. My hubby prefers it soggy though!
 
I'm going to try demerara sugar. I've been using granulated before. Part baking the top separately seems a good idea too @fluffysal

Incidentally, when I stewed the plums, there was 1/2 pint of drained off juice. It seemed a shame to pour it down the sink so I tried making jam (or rather a sort of unclear jelly) out of it. Made one jar. I haven't tasted it yet though!
 
Katherine said:
I'm going to try demerara sugar. I've been using granulated before. Part baking the top separately seems a good idea too @fluffysal

Incidentally, when I stewed the plums, there was 1/2 pint of drained off juice. It seemed a shame to pour it down the sink so I tried making jam (or rather a sort of unclear jelly) out of it. Made one jar. I haven't tasted it yet though!
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Coincidentally, I have now just had a plum crumble! Interestingly, the crumble was different to normal and less crunchy which implies that it could be something to do with plums.
The technique I’ve been taught is making it in a food processor (not like a cake mixer but the kind with a blade). It makes it so much quicker to not have to rub the butter in (just make sure the butter is rock hard and in cubes) then with big chunky demerara sugar stir it in with a fork so that the grains stay big. Usually it is super crunchy done like this put on stewed apple.
 
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