Spiced plum crumble Recipe

Ingredients

• 140g plain flour
• 140g butter, cut into small dice
• 85g soft brown sugar
• 50g porridge oats
• custard, to serve
• 1kg ripe plums (about 14), halved and stoned
• 1 tbsp soft brown sugar
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 2 star anise
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• juice½ lemon
• 300g blackberries

Instructions

1. First, make the crumble topping. Put the flour and butter in a food processor and pulse to the texture of wet sand. Tip into a bowl and add the sugar and oats. Sprinkle the mixture with 2 tbsp cold water, then use a fork to mix everything together, creating a crumbly texture with a few large clumps. Chill until needed.
2. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Tip all the fruit ingredients, except the blackberries, into a large ovenproof dish. Add 50ml water, cover with foil and bake for 1 hr. Remove the foil and discard star anise. Add the blackberries to the dish, sprinkle over the crumble mixture and return to the oven for a further 25-30 mins until the top is golden. Serve hot with custard.