Recipe: Apple, rhubarb and ginger crumble

Winter arrived in Sydney this week with a bone-chilling shiver. Antipodeans don't like the cold. Not unless it's amber and comes in a schooner.

So I was more than pleased when an invite to dinner this week promised a heart-warming offer of home-cooked pizza. Rather than bring an obligatory box of choccies, I took a couple of apples and a block of butter with me--the intent to rustle up a thank you dessert of apple crumble. In the host's kitchen, I discovered a bunch of rhubarb in urgent need of cooking... Apple and rhubarb? Even better! And a pinch of ginger to give it even more warmth, as well as qualifying it for the latest ginger-themed Sugar High Friday online cook-off!



Apple, Rhubarb and Ginger Crumble

Crumbles must be one of the easiest desserts in the world. No measuring is required. Just rough guesstimates will suffice. A little bit of experimentation with different flavours never hurt anyone either.

Peel and chop enough apples and rhubarb into even-sized chunks to just fill your baking dish. Tart apples (granny smith or Bramley) have better flavour, but the rhubarb will provide some tartness otherwise.

Sprinkle mixture with plenty of brown sugar, a heavy dusting of cinnamon and several pinches of ground ginger (for three large apples and five stalks of rhubarb I probably used about 2/3 cup brown sugar). Add a few extra slices of fresh ginger if preferred, then toss mixture and set aside.

To prepare the crumble, rub in about 60g of softened butter into 100g of plain flour. Add 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon ground ginger and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and combine.

Gently pile crumble mixture on top of fruit, then bake at 180C for about 45min or until fruit is cooked and crumble is nicely browned.

Serve with cream or ice cream, or enjoy it on its own. Alas there was no ice cream in the host's freezer compartment, but I found the ginger added a pleasing warm spiciness which cut through any sense of excessive sweetness or tartness.


Technoratic tags: SHF Sugar High Friday recipes ginger food + drink