Friday, August 14, 2009

The way the cookie mysteriously crumbles


Remember Justine from Masterchef? Versus Matt Moran? Making the the 'too many pears on a plate dessert'? She burnt her crumble, and had to make a new one with 5 minutes to go! - she somehow not only pulled it off, but her cream dollop managed to stay a perfect cornell!

If you've made crumble before, that's a near impossibility - you'll put a hole in your hand touching it after 5 minutes; there's not a chance that you can put anything solid on it for at *least* 15 minutes!

Let me give you a basic crumble recipe so you can test it out for yourself;

100g softened butter
100g pure icing sugar
100g flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Mix together well in a mixer (until dough-like). Lay evenly on a flat tray:

Shove it in a 180 degree oven for 10 minutes, pull it out, mix it around with your spatula, back in the oven for another 5, or until golden brown.

break it up as much as you can with your spatula, and leave to cool until you can handle it with your fingers, then break it up more; as much as you can.

You can put this crumble on anything; yoghurt, eat it with ice cream, or my favourite: take some berry compot, some crumble on top; into the oven for 5 minutes, vanilla bean ice cream on top! mmmmm

The best thing, is keep the finished product in an airtight container and it will last for weeks!

Any other creative uses for crumble? Looking at all you dessert foodies

7 comments:

  1. The question then is, how could it be pulled off in 5 minutes? Can it possibly be done at all or do you think there was some fudging going on to make for a nice challenge story?

    How would you have dealt with that situation, given the same circumstances?

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  2. I heart crumble so i'll probably end up eating this straight off the tray mmm

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  3. I have heard from reliable sources many inside stories about Masterchef. Let's just say that things aren't always as they appear on TV...

    Nothing beats crumble on top of baked, roasted or poached fruit. Apples, rhubarb, quince, pear yummm.... Also crumble makes for a great topping on top of a cake in its raw form to be baked together.

    Speaking of which I've never tried making crumble your way. Normally I do the rubbing-butter-into-flour mode then adding raw sugar/demerara etc then bake.

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  4. thelonefoodie: If it was me, I would have made the crumble first, then the pears (because it's the two things that have to cool), then the glorified tarte de tatin, then the caramel.

    and if I burnt it again with 5 mins to go, I would have quite my job haha

    FFichiban: mmmm I know the feeling; just make double batch just in case ;)

    Karen: I think that would be the case :) and you just gave me an idea for a layered cheesecake, thanks!

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  5. I had an amazing crumble from Ash St Cellar not too long ago, served with fresh orange segments and lemon curd. But I'd have it with poached fruit any day.

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  6. mmmm i love crumble. But i gotta say I like to stick with classic apple crumble... *drool* i'm making myself hungry :P

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  7. jenius: lemon curd and orange? Sounds like one sour dish - probably better with a meringue?

    ICS: Great; now I'm craving too! haha

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