Winter 2020Apple & blueberry crumble with homemade custard recipe

By Natasha Brown, owner of Brown’s Cakes

You just can’t beat a delicious fruit crumble to feed the soul on a cold winter’s evening. I use Bramley apples, blueberries and digestive biscuits to create this twist on a traditional apple crumble.

The homemade custard requires effort and you need to be very careful that you don’t stop stirring it for a second, but it’s so tasty and goes down a real treat!

Crumble mixture
175g plain flour
100g cold butter
100g light brown sugar
3 digestive biscuits (put these in a bag and crush them with a rolling pin)

Fruit base
3 good sized Bramley apples
2 handfuls of blueberries
50g light brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp mixed spice

Preheat the oven to 190°C / 170°C fan / gas mark 5.

Prepare the topping by rubbing the flour and butter between your fingers until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and the crushed biscuit.

Peel and chop the apple and place in a dish approx. 20cm wide and at least 5cm deep. Stir in the blueberries. Mix the sugar and spices together in a small bowl and sprinkle most of the mixture over the fruit (retain about 15g or one tablespoon to sprinkle over the crumble). Give the fruit and sugar a stir.

Gently layer the topping over the fruit and finish by sprinkling the surface with the remaining sugar and spice mix.

Cook in the oven for 40 - 45 mins until the top has browned.

Have all your ingredients for the custard ready and have bowls, spoons etc ready so that once you take the crumble out of the oven you can then make the custard. The crumble will sit happily for 10 minutes but the custard needs eating as soon as it’s made.

Homemade custard
4 egg yolks
40g caster sugar
40g cornflour
1tsp vanilla extract
1 pint (570ml) whole milk
50 ml double cream

Whisk together the egg yolks, caster sugar, cornflour and vanilla extract in a bowl.

Gently heat the milk and cream in a pan until it is close to boiling. Have a whisk ready, then pour the hot milk/cream over the egg mixture and whisk briskly.

Return the sauce to the pan and gently heat again, do not stop stirring for a second! Keep stirring until the custard thickens then transfer to a warm jug. It skins over quickly, but when I was a kid, we used to fight over who got the skin because we all wanted it.

Variations
The blueberries can be left out altogether or substituted with wimberries or blackberries and the digestive biscuits can be replaced with oats or muesli for a chewier texture.

My eldest daughter is vegan and the crumble is really easy to adjust for her. I just use dairy-free margarine instead of butter, such as Pure or Vitalite. McVities digestives are vegan as are some other brands. I’m sure there will be good homemade custard recipes around, but I cheat and use Bird’s custard powder with soya milk. Alternatively, Alpro make a lovely ready-made vegan custard which you can buy at most supermarkets.