Blackberry & Apple Crumble: a quick photo post

Blackberry & Apple Crumble

For the crumble:
70g plain flour
60g cold unsalted butter
40g light brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of fine sea salt

For the filling:
1 big cooking apple
3 or 4 small eating apples (preferably plucked straight from the tree)
a good squeeze of lemon juice - approx 1 tbsp
50g light brown sugar
a big handful of blackberries (preferably wild, plucked from the hedgerows with stained hands as you amble along on a Sunday walk)

Preheat the oven to 180C/350C. Tip the flour into a mixing bowl then cut the butter into small cubes. Add the cubes to the flour and rub in until most of the butter is worked in but you still have a few small lumps. Stir in the sugar, cinnamon and salt.

Fill a mixing bowl (I had to change the one in the photo above as it was too small) with water and add a good squeeze of lemon. Peel, core and chop the apples, placing the chopped bits into the lemon water so they don't brown while you do the rest (both types together weighed roughly 475g for me). Drain the apples the stir the brown sugar through. Tip half of the apples into a medium sized baking dish then scatter half of the blackberries on top. Add the remaining apple, then the remaining blackberries. Spread the crumble over the top in an even layer. Place in the oven and bake for around 30 minutes or until bubbling, the apple yields easily to a knife when poked and the topping is golden brown.

Serve slightly cooled but still hot with custard, ice cream or cream.

(Serves 4-5)



Three other apple posts:
2010: Spiced Apple Cake
2011: Apple & Quince Pie
2012: Apple Fritters

Crumbled Apples

On a beautifully bright day a few weeks ago, we went for lunch at one of my favourite restaurants in Verbier.

It's tucked away in the trees, up on the side of the bowl cradling our town. My friend B was staying with us, so the three of us walked up the snowy path with the dogs. I had my film camera with me and kept clicking away. When we arrived, the dogs curled up at our feet and we settled down to eat.

They make particularly delicious salads at La Marlenaz. I had one filled with hot chicken, toasted almonds and lots of other goodies, all topped with their wonderful dressing. B's had a generous helping of incredibly fresh goats cheese and slices of apple. Mum always (and I mean always) has soup for lunch - so she had a big bowl of asparagus soup.

Though I felt a bit out of depth taking shots of food on film (and outside of my kitchen!) I'm pleased with how they turned out.

For pudding, B had a lemon tart and mum and I shared the 'Apple Crumble'. In my opinion, it's actually Crumbled Apples, so that's what I've called my version. They essentially take chunky slices of apple, coat them in a crumble mixture and then bake them like that. It's served with a melting scoop of rich vanilla ice cream and a little biscuit (which I think has something like caraway seeds in it).

We returned for dinner on mum's birthday and had the same pudding. It was just as enjoyable the second time.

I decided to make my own version of their dish (just like I did with the Wild Strawberry Creams, adapted from a raspberry dessert we had there). I added ground almonds for texture, cinnamon for flavour and brown butter because I love it. I thought using liquid butter would also help get the right consistency so the mixture would stick, at least partially, to the apples. The result is the best tasting wet sand you'll ever find.

When baked, the apples soften and caramelize around the edges. The crumble is slightly chunkier in my version - it asserts its presence.

Though I'm generally against deconstructing perfectly good desserts, especially when they take something simple and make it incredibly complicated, I like this take on crumble. It's a nice change, especially for summer.

As long as you're not expecting Apple Crumble, Crumbled Apples are really very delicious.

Crumbled Apples
(inspired by a dessert at La Marlenaz, Verbier)

45g unsalted butter
40g plain flour
25g whole almonds (or ground)
30g soft brown sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of fine sea salt
2 apples (I used braeburn)

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. In a small frying pan or saucepan, melt the butter. Keep over the heat until the butter has bubbled, foamed and then died down - it should smell fantastic and there should be lots of dark brown flecks. Take off the heat and leave to cool. Place the flour and whole almonds in a food processor and blend until the almonds have been reduced to fine crumbs. Add the sugar, cinnamon and salt and pulse to combine. Leave in the processor.

Peel the apples. Slice into quarters, remove the pips and stalks, then slice lengthways into 3 or 4 slices. Add the brown butter to the food processor and blend until it looks like wet sand. Tip onto a baking sheet, add the apple slices and toss together.

Place into the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a knife slips easily into the bigger apple slices and the crumble pieces are golden brown and crisp. Serve either alone or with a scoop of rich vanilla ice cream or chilled double cream. Best eaten while still warm.

(Serves 2-3)

200: Pear and Chocolate Crumble

This is my 200th post.

I had a pear, chocolate and hazelnut tart recipe stashed away for the occasion (well, actually, for the 2 year marker I totally missed in March) but when I actually tried it on Sunday it wasn't anything special. So instead of sharing that, I decided to delve back into my old notebooks and pull out an early recipe for pear and chocolate crumble. Maybe I should have gone for a showstopper (like the Butterfly Fleur de Sel Caramel Cake I made for my 100th), but this humble crumble (heh) is what I felt like eating.

Poires au Chocolat is named after a few recipes I created back in 2009 that gave me my first feelings of satisfaction while recipe testing. Though the cake was the real eureka moment, I love this crumble too. I have a necklace with a little gold pear pendant to remind me of that feeling and of where this whole dream came from.



The post I wrote for my first blog birthday was special. It was in that post that I first revealed to the world that I wanted to train as a pastry chef. 21 months later and here I stand as a student. I still can't quite believe that my dreams are coming true all around me.

I want to share my experience at culinary school with you all in some way. I can't share the recipes or go through explaining all the techniques so instead I've decided to keep a photo diary of everything I make on Instagram, the photo app. At the end of each practical session I'll snap a photo and upload it - my account is poiresauchocolat if you're on Instagram or I will be tweeting a link every time. The photos for my first two practicals and a few other shots are on there already. In this way I hope I can share my highs and lows with you all.

I like the progression of these photographs (to ruin the surprise) and the idea that a grayscale world turns colour after some rejuvenating pudding. Pudding has incredible powers of restoration. Tired? A steaming bowl of crumble will put you back on your feet. I ate mine with greek yogurt this time but proper custard is perfection.

Here's to 200 posts, my 186th recipe and following your heart! (Imagine you have a glass of champagne at this point. Chink!)



Pear and Chocolate Crumble
(crumble recipe adapted from Delia's Complete Cookery Course)

For the crumble:
75g plain flour
40g unsalted butter
30g soft brown sugar
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

For the filling:
3 medium pears, slightly unripe and firm to touch
1 tsp maple syrup
sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg
30g dark chocolate.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Sieve the flour into a bowl. Add the butter and rub in until you have fairly uniform crumbs. Stir in the sugar, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.

Peel the pears and chop them into medium chunks. Place into a medium saucepan and just cover with cold water. Add the maple syrup and a dusting of the spices. Put over a medium heat and cook until the pears are just turning soft. Remove the pears to a small baking dish or tin (I used a loaf tin this time as I didn't have a dish). Keep the remaining water over the heat till it reduces to about 2/3 of its original depth.

Pour the syrup over the pears in the dish. Roughly chop the chocolate and stud the pears with the chunks. Stir any little pieces of chocolate into the crumble mix, then top the pears with it. Bake for 30 minutes or until browned and bubbling.

(Serves 3-4)

Cheesecake Mousse with Summer Fruits and Almond Crumble

Last weekend I was in London. More specifically, I was at The Hempel with a big group of food bloggers for Food Blogger Connect 2011. I had a lovely weekend filled with interesting talks and classes, meeting new people and eating gorgeous food.

My favourite element of said gorgeous food was the dessert we had on Friday night. We had little white bowls of summer berries topped with an incredible cheesecake mousse flecked with vanilla and a sprinkling of sweet crumble. I loved the balance of textures and flavours.

So, in the spirit of commemoration, I decided to try and recreate it.

(Photo credit to Šárka Babická of Cook Your Dream - can you spot me?)

After a few tries, I think I've just about managed to do it justice. Though there are three components, it's a simple dessert to make and doesn't take much time - just a bit of chilling.

Have a look at the #FBC11 hashtag on twitter for sneak peaks of some of the talks and other round up posts. I don't have a list of all the great bloggers who attended and their blogs, but you can find most of them there.

Cheesecake Mousse with Summer Fruits and Almond Crumble
(crumble adapted from John Murray's recipe)

For the cheesecake mousse:
85g cream cheese
30g icing sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
seeds of 1/3 of a vanilla bean
100ml thick double cream

For the crumble:
20g whole almonds (or ground)
20g plain flour
20g cold unsalted butter, cubed
20g caster sugar

For the summer fruits:
200g assorted fruits - I used raspberries and blackberries
25g caster sugar
1 tsp lemon juice

Beat the cream cheese in a bowl until smooth. Add the icing sugar, vanilla extract and vanilla seeds and whisk in. In another bowl, whip the double cream until it holds firm peaks. Whisk 1/3 of the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture. Add the remaining 2/3 of the cream and fold in with a big spoon until uniform. Place into the fridge and chill for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 170C. Place the whole almonds and flour into a food processor and pulse until you have a fine powder. Add the sugar and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles wet sand. Tip out onto a greased baking sheet and spread out with a fork, fluffing it up as you go. Bake for 5 minutes then remove and break any lumps up with a fork. Place back into the oven and bake for another 3-5 minutes until the crumbs are pale golden colour.

Wash and prepare the summer fruits as needed. Sprinkle over the sugar and lemon juice and leave to macerate for ten minutes.

To assemble divide the fruits between six ramekins or small bowls. Take the mousse out of the fridge and form into 6 or 12 balls or quenelles with spoon/two spoons/an ice cream scoop. Divide out between the portions, placing each ball carefully on top of the fruit. Sprinkle with some of the almond crumble.

(Makes six)

Apricot and Pistachio Crumbles with Vanilla Ice Cream

Although I typically think of crumbles as winter desserts, these apricot and pistachio crumbles are serious contenders for my favourite summer pudding. I can't stop making them. Or eating them.

Mum came back with a load of fresh apricots from the market the other day. Apricots are big business in our valley - there are dozens of farms that line the bottom and sell their produce in little stalls by the road.  They're gorgeous. I love seeing all the fruit trees on the mountain side, sharing with the wine vines, heavy with bright fruit.

Apricot crumble seemed like a great way to use some of them up. The combination with pistachios is wonderful, so I incorporated them into the topping (which is divine in itself).

Of course you cannot have crumble without ice cream. I like vanilla with most of mine - this is a light 'Philidelphia' style ice cream that's perfect for summer. In the autumn I want to try cinnamon ice cream with apple crumble.

I discovered that a melon baller makes perfect little portions for individual ramekins - cute, eh.



I also make a bigger one each time (I've made this recipe twice in the past ten days... who is for lunch-pudding and supper-pudding?). Because I can't get enough. You could do the whole recipe in one bigger dish, too.

The apricots go gooey and sweet and keep their stunning colour. The pistachios meld beautifully with the flavour of the apricots and the ice cream is light, full of vanilla and just completes the picture.



Apricot and Pistachio Crumble
(heavily adapted from Delia's Complete Cookery)

10 apricots
75g plain flour
40g butter
40g brown sugar
40g pistachios
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of fleur de sel

Preheat the oven to 180C/360F. Put the plain flour and baking powder into a bowl and mix them up. Add the butter and rub it in until it looks like crumbs. Stir in the brown sugar and salt. Roughly chop up the pistachios and stir them in too. Get your dishes together and slice up the apricots and arrange them in the dishes. Sprinkle a tablespoon or so of sugar over them, or more they're a bit sour. Spoon over the topping evenly. Put into the oven and bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown and bubbling around the edges.

(Serves 6 - easily doubled)


Vanilla Ice Cream
(from Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop)

500ml double cream
250ml whole milk
150g caster sugar
pinch of salt
1 vanilla pod
3/4 tsp vanilla extract

Pour half the cream and the milk into a saucepan with the sugar and salt. Scape the vanilla seeds from the pod and add them, along with the pod itself. Warm until the sugar has completely dissolved. Take off the heat and stir in the other half of the cream and the vanilla extract. Pour into a jug and chill throughly (overnight if possible). Just before churning, give it a good stir and remove the vanilla pod (you can rinse and dry it for another use, such as vanilla sugar). Freeze according to your maker instructions.

(Makes about 1 litre)