4. Cloves - Pear & Apple Crumble Pie

More comfort food! This was inspired by the ladies at Domestic Sluttery. I made a few adjustments including using apples as well as pears and using my own mix of spices. Made on a chilly Saturday afternoon with Mrs Andersen, Classic Gold on the radio and lots of wine (although not essential to the recipe, they come highly recommended).

Ingredients

Sweet shortcrust pastry - I used the other half of the pastry I had leftover from making pumpkin pie (about 400g)

For the filling

3 large Bramley apples
3 large pears
Juice of 1 lemon
50g demerara sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground allspice
2 tsp good quality vanilla essence

For the crumble topping

60g plain flour
120g butter
150g demerara sugar
75g flaked almonds

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan oven/gas mark 6. Roll out the pastry as thinly as you can and use it to line a buttered pie dish (mine was 24cm). Prick all over with a fork, place a sheet of baking parchment on top and pack with dried beans/lentils/ceramic beans and bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until it has started to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and turn the oven down to 180C/160C fan oven/gas mark 3.

Next peel and chop the apples and pears (removing any cores and pips) and place in a bowl of water with the juice of a lemon squeezed in to stop them from turning brown.

In a small bowl mix together the demerara sugar and spices.

In another bowl make the crumble topping. Combine the sugar, flour and butter and rub together with your fingertips to the consistency of breadcrumbs (although some bigger lumps of butter are a good thing!). Then stir through the almonds.

To assemble the crumble pie, drain the fruit and stir through the sugar and spice mix making sure all the fruit is coated. Place the fruit in the pastry case and try to evenly distribute the apples and pears. Finally sprinkle over the crumble topping.

Bake in the oven for around 40 minutes but around the 30 minute mark check the top isn't turning too dark and give the fruit a prod with a skewer to see if it's cooked.

The result was a scruffy looking but completely satisfying pudding. It was untidy as I sliced off the excess pastry before baking and of course it shrank. Oops! Oh well, it tasted pretty good. Sweet, treacly, spicy flavours teamed with the crisp pastry, soft fruit and crunchy topping was very moreish. Perfect with custard.