Gooseberry, Raspberry & Almond Crumble

A few weekends ago I went to a PYO (Pick Your Own) fruit farm and enjoyed a happy but rather prickly hour picking my own gooseberries and raspberries. After munching on a few I decided I wanted to bake something with them and decided on crumble.

Gooseberries and raspberries look so pretty together, their contrasting red and green colours look so striking and as they are both in season together, it makes sense that they would taste good baked together too.

I lightly cooked the gooseberries first, just so they started to soften as they were a lot bigger and firmer than the raspberries. I love the flavour of almond with fruit and so added a little almond extract to the fruit and sugar base and then some ground almonds to the crumble topping. I was actually surprised how fragrant and inviting this made the crumble smell while it was baking. Warm sweet fruit and heady almond is a match made in heaven in my opinion.

I also added a few gluten free oats to the topping, as I like the little bit of texture they add. You can leave them out or replace them with some flakes almonds if you can’t tolerate gluten free oats.

The finished crumble was fabulous. The juices had escaped from the gooseberries and mingled with the jammy raspberries to form a delicious sweet and sticky pink syrup with a lovely subtle almond flavour. The gooseberries themselves were a mix of sweet and intense sharpness. I found the ones that had burst seemed to take on some of the sugar and were nicely sweet and syrupy, while the few that remained intact released a burst of tart fruity sharpness when bitten into. I know plenty of people who would have found this too sharp, but I loved it. It also helped prevent the pudding from being too sweet. I love tart sharp flavour – I have been known to eat raw cooking apple! If you like your sweets to be sweeter simply taste a gooseberry and add more sugar before baking.

It was the perfect fresh and fruity summer dessert and the zingy colourful fruity was definitely the star of the show.

Gooseberry, Raspberry & Almond Crumble

Fruit

450g gooseberries

40g caster sugar *see note below

½ tsp almond extract

150g raspberries

Crumble Topping

75g brown rice flour

15g tapioca starch

30g ground almonds

30g gluten free oats

50g butter

45g light soft brown sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Place the gooseberries into a pan along with 2 tbsp of water and cook gently until they are just starting to soften and a few are beginning to burst. You don’t want to cook it until you have puree.

Remove from the heat and stir in the caster sugar and almond extract.

Spoon the gooseberry mixture into a baking dish approx 5x8inches, and scatter the raspberries over the top.

Make the crumble topping by mixing together the flours, oats, almonds and brown sugar. Cut the butter into small cubes and add to the flour mix.

Rub the butter into the flour using the tips of your fingers, lifting them up above the bowl and letting the mix fall back into the bowl as you rub.

Continue until you have a mix of small clumps and fine crumbs of crumble.

Scatter the crumble over the top of the fruit and bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly golden brown.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving. Also tastes great cold or served with custard if desired.

*Note: some gooseberries can be very sharp and sour tasting. Taste a gooseberry when they have been lightly cooked and mixed with the sugar. If it is too tart for your liking, add 20g+ more sugar to taste.