Tuesday 2 August 2011

Suck it up – Worcester berry and marzipan crumble

Worcester berry and marzipan crumble
I remember being told as a young child, “sometimes we need to do things we don’t necessarily want to do”. Tough love. I think the next few months are going to fall under that heading. I’m just going to have to “suck it up”  (and comfort eat).

An ex-boyfriend once told me my food wasn’t “sexy”. Perhaps he was right but frankly I couldn’t care less, on a good day it is pretty darn tasty. This recipe is a perfect example of that; not sexy but great comfort food.

Worcester berries

I hadn’t come across Worcester berries before last Saturday when I spotted them at the farmer's market. If you are interested they are a cross between a red gooseberry and a blueberry and make excellent jam apparently. If you can’t find them most stone fruit such as plums or berries such as brambles would work well.

Worcester berry crumble filling

Worcester and marzipan crumble
Makes 4 pots
Oven set to 180 degrees c

For the topping –
100g plain flour
80g of butter at room temperature
20g demerara sugar
35g marzipan chopped into ½ cm cubes

For the filling -
600g Worcester berries, topped and tailed
80 - 100g approx of caster sugar

Add the filling ingredients to a pan over a moderate heat.
Maybe add a tiny splash of water if you think it will stick.
Cook for approx 5 minutes or until soft.
Have a taste you may need to add more sugar.

To make the topping add the flour and butter together by rubbing the mixture between your fingers until it resembles rough sand.
Stir in the sugar and half of the marzipan.

To assemble the crumble add some of the filling to a wee pot or ramekin if you are being posh.
You may want to add the fruit and just a little of juice as it would be a bit of a watery crumble if you add the whole of the filling mixture.
Scatter the remaining half of the marzipan onto the filling and then add the topping mix.
To make a crisp crumble make sure the top is completely covered and compress slightly.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until crisp and lovely.

Serve with cream, custard, yogurt or whatever you fancy. Personally I think some elderflower ice cream would be pretty amazing with this.

Enjoy.

Worcester berry and marzipan crumble - tucking in







10 comments:

  1. This looks delicious, liking the idea of a marzipan crumble topping. Theres alot to be said for comfort eating in times of need, especially with such a pretty looking dessert.

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  2. Thank you for the Worcester berries discovery! I would have sworn these are black currants... Beautiful crumble and a very original container ;-)

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  3. Mandy - the marzipan is a nice addition to the crumble, it gets all lovely and caramelised on top. Yummy

    Sissi - They are about 2-3 times the size of black currents and I think possibly superior? The container was an old gu pot. Waste not want not and all that...

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  4. yum! my favouraite yet! you are so original and creative -marzipan in the topping-what a great!

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  5. Thank you, they didn't look so big on the photo!

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  6. This looks too yummy! Love the idea of putting it in a mini-pot, so cute & great presentation.

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  7. Thanks Emily, The pots are actually out of necessity as the boyfriend is allergic to nuts so I made him a marzipan free version. His and her's versions, very cute.

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  8. Just for your information, the Worcesterberry is a North American true species Ribes Divaricatum, not a hybrid. ie., it is the same family as currants. If you want to grow them, see the information here :- http://www.growyourown.info/page83.html

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  9. Marzipan with worcesterberries was a fabulous idea. I pinched it this evening to make a very simple dessert with worcesterberries, a sprinkle of sugar, a slice of marzipan and whipped cream. Put together in seconds and gobbled up in the same amount of time. Our bushes have produced far more berries than we can eat - 14lbs already in the freezer from this season.

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  10. Worcester berries are a separate species, Ribes divaricatum, not a hybrid, according to expert Dr D G Hessayon. Unlike gooseberries they are not susceptible to american mildew, so we’ll worth growing if you are careful to avoid the thorns.

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