Banana Crumble

I love crumbles. There is just something about fruit stewed in sugar and spices that is so comforting. However the problem that I have is that Jack detests fruit in both desserts and cakes. Christmas cake, no. Christmas pudding, no. Apple pie, no. Warm, sugary fruit in a dessert is his idea of hell. To me, this was a devastating fact to come to terms with when we moved in together. There are only so many chocolate desserts you can eat! Determined to come up with something crumble based that he would eat, I began experimenting.

Now, Jack loves bananas. So I thought if I could get them to keep their shape - maybe he'll eat them in a crumble? After all, it was the mushy texture he really didn't enjoy. Alas, my experimenting paid off. Last night, we had a banana crumble with custard and he devoured it! We're also currently eating the leftovers as a porridge topper as i'm typing this. So here is the recipe! I hope you enjoy it as much as us, let me know what you think.

The key to this recipe is to use bananas that are yellow with very little green on their skins. If you use overly ripe bananas, they'll just turn to mush in the oven.

This recipe will serve 2-3 people.

Ingredients

Topping

32g light brown sugar
56g cold unsalted butter
32g plain flour
64g of oats (I like Mornflake Scottish Jumbo Oats)

Filling

28g unsalted butter
64g light brown sugar
1tsp cinnamon
A good squeeze of fresh orange juice
4-6 bananas - add as many or as little as you like, whatever you've got hanging around! Cut them into 1 inch chunks
Pinch of salt

Method

1. Heat the oven to 170c fan.

2. Mix all of the topping ingredients together, use your fingers to rub the cold butter into the mixture. Cover and place in the fridge. Also place your 1 inch chunks of banana into a bowl and place them in the fridge.

3. For the filling, melt the butter in a pan and add in the sugar, cinnamon and salt. When it turns into a brown sludge, add in your orange juice. Adding the juice might make the sauce sizzle and spit but don't worry!

4. Add in the banana chunks, toss to coat. Be careful not to break them up.

5. Spread the banana mixture into an oven safe dish and sprinkle your crumble topping over the top.

6. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the top of the crumble is a golden brown. Serve with custard or vanilla ice cream.