I found this recipe on ‘Chocolate with Grace’ and decided to adapt it and see if I could make it. I loveeeeee strawberries so I ended up using more and adding apples since I had some left over from my apple porridge. They turned out great and the flavours remind me of homely warm desserts my Nana would make from produce on her farm. Overall it’s perfect for this time of year when the weather is getting a bit colder and the colours remind me of autumn leaves. A perfect addition to any autumnal get-together or just for a cosy dessert in the chilly evenings.

Ingredients

Crumble

• 360g of plain flour
• 50g of granulated sugar
• 105g of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 226g of unsalted butter
• 1 large egg

Filling

• 1 punnet of strawberries
• 2 rhubarb stalks
• 4 teaspoons of corn flour
• 100g of granulated sugar
• 1 green apple

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 190 degrees c and line a tin with grease-proof paper (mine was 24.5cm by 24.5cm and 4cm deep.
2. In a bowl mix together the flour, sugar, brown sugar, and baking powder.
3. Next, put up your butter into small cubes and mix it with your dry ingredients.
4. Beat the egg for between 1 and 2 minutes and combine with the rest of the mixture until it clumps together with your hands.
5. Firmly press half of this mixture into your tin.
6. In a bowl combine your apple (peeled and chopped into small squares), strawberries, and rhubarb with the corn flour and sugar.
7. Add the remaining crumble to this fruit mixture and place over the previous layer in your tin.
8. Press down lightly.
9. Bake for 50 minutes or until the fruit is bubbling and the top is golden brown and yummy looking.
10. Let it cool before you cut your bars.
11. In the meantime, you can make your custard

Custard

I choose to make crème Anglaise, which is a thinner custard used for pouring over desserts. You only need 4 ingredients for this,

• 6 egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract (you could use a vanilla pod, but if you’re lazy like me then the essence will do just fine)
• 64g granulated sugar
• 500 ml of milk

5ish Easy Steps

1. Beat the eggs with a whisk for a few minutes.
2. Next, add your sugar and beat until a pale yellow.
3. Heat your milk to 82 degrees c, make sure it doesn’t boil
4. Slowly pour the milk bit by bit into the other mixture, whisking constantly (we don’t want scrambled eggs).
5. Heat this mixture until it reaches 85 degrees c, stir constantly, and add your vanilla essence.
   • If by this point it’s not the desired thickness add some cornflour mixed with water in a 1:1 ratio.

Rating

I’d give this recipe 4 out of 5 Barnabies. It maybe looks a little rustic but it tastes great and if I can make it anyone can.

“You can never have too much custard”

Barnaby famously said