Spiced plum & blackberry crumble

• plain flour↗140g g
• butter↗140g g

  cut into small dice

• soft brown sugar↗85g g
• porridge oat50g g
• custard

  to serve

• plums↗1kg g

  (about 14), halved and stoned

• soft brown sugar↗1 tbsp tbsp
• plain flour↗1 tbsp tbsp
• star anise2

  2

• ground cinnamon↗1 tsp tsp
• vanilla extract↗1 tsp tsp
• juice ½ lemon
• blackberry↗300g g

Step-by-step instructions

1. 1

   First, make the crumble topping. Put the flour and butter in a food processor and pulse to the texture of wet sand. Tip into a bowl and add the sugar and oats. Sprinkle the mixture with 2 tbsp cold water, then use a fork to mix everything together, creating a crumbly texture with a few large clumps. Chill until needed.

2. 2

   Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Tip all the fruit ingredients, except the blackberries, into a large ovenproof dish. Add 50ml water, cover with foil and bake for 1 hr. Remove the foil and discard star anise. Add the blackberries to the dish, sprinkle over the crumble mixture and return to the oven for a further 25-30 mins until the top is golden. Serve hot with custard.