Take advantage of the rhubarb season by making this old fashioned crumble in less than an hour, including the baking time! It is especially delicious when served with vanilla ice cream or custard.
Find this crumble irresistible? You’ll need to try my Easy Apple Crisp!
Rhubarb Recipes
I have been a rhubarb fan for as long as I can remember. And with age I don’t seem to get tired of it but only keep discovering new ways of cooking rhubarb into delicious treats.
A rhubarb crumble is a classic and a very easy one at that. Rhubarb is brilliant when cooked with a little bit of sugar and vanilla, then topped with a crispy cookie-like topping.
Not cloyingly sweet but a perfectly balanced taste of the rhubarb plant is what makes it so moreish. A beautiful marriage of the sweet and the tart with a citrusy fragrance. What could be better!
If you love cooked fruit desserts, make sure to take a look at our Rhubarb Cobbler. Similar idea but the topping consists of fluffy oaty biscuits, which are more similar to cake in their texture.
Another dessert with roasted rhubarb you might like is a British classic. It is called Bakewell Tart. Put it on your baking list when you have a bit more time to spend in the kitchen.
Fruit Crumble
Crumbles, made with all sorts of fruit and berries, are a popular summer dessert. And no wonder, they are easier than pies and taste just as good if not better.
The legend has it that crumbles gained their momentum during the World War II in Britain due to food shortages. Rationing was in place, which made the crumble topping to be more economical than a double crust pie.
I personally prefer a crumble to a fruit pie as I find the taste of the crumble topping a lot more interesting than that of a pie crust. And if pies have a reputation of being difficult to master, crumbles are simple and straightforward.
As easy as the crumbles are to prepare, there are a few tips I would like to pass on to perfect this recipe.
Recipe Tips and Notes
- If you want the filling of your crumble to be a beautiful pink colour, look for rhubarb with pink stalks. That is where the colour comes from. If not successful, do not despair, your crumble will taste the same bit will be less vivid in colour.
- You can even tint your filling with a drop of pink or red food colour gel if presentation matters to you!
- I prepare the filling in a very simple way. Freshly sliced rhubarb, brown sugar for a deeper flavour and the seeds of a vanilla bean. I also like to add a teaspoon of cornstarch (cornflour) to keep it from becoming too runny.
- The topping is where things get a bit more technical. For starters, I use a mix of plain flour and ground almonds. The almonds give the crumble topping that rich cookie-like taste and texture. I adore using them in crusts and always keep a stash in my freezer to keep nuts from going rancid.
- It’s very important to me that the topping is truly “crumbly” and not “powdery”. To achieve that texture, use cold butter cut into cubes, then mix it into the dry mixture of the flour, ground nuts, sugar and salt with your hands. Simply start grabbing handfuls of the mix and rub the butter into it, creating large clumps, making sure there not too much of the powdery mixture left.
- Choose a wide and shallow pan for your crumble. This will also help with controlling the amount of liquid in the filling.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbling over. Serve warm with ice cream or custard.
Storage and leftovers
Crumble stores well, either in the fridge or freezer, so this is a great one to make ahead and keep until you are ready to serve.
If baked- allow it to cool completely before giving it an airtight wrap in cling film. Wrap the whole thing- dish and all. It can be kept frozen for up to 4 months. You can heat it again in the oven at 200C/400F and add 10 minutes to the original cooking time.
If unbaked- let the filling cool, then wrap in clingfilm (dish and all) to make it airtight. Freeze for up to 4 months. When you are ready to use it, thaw it out overnight in the fridge and follow the original baking instructions (200C/400F for 50-55 minutes).
(Previously unfrozen) leftover crisp can be refrigerated for 2-3 days. Eat hot or cold.
More Rhubarb Recipes
Rhubarb Crumble
Ingredients
- 600g/4 ½ cups rhubarb
- 1 tsp cornstarch (cornflour)
- 200g/1 cup brown sugar
- 1 vanilla bean seeds scraped out or 1 tablespoon of vanilla
For the topping
- 140g/1 cup plain flour
- 60g/1/2 cup ground almonds
- 100g/1/2 cup white sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 125g/1/2 cup cold butter
Instructions
- Cut the rhubarb into ½ inch pieces and toss them with the corn starch(cornflour) and brown sugar. Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla bean and stir into the mixture.
- Prepare the topping but mixing the flour, ground almonds, sugar and salt. Add cold cubed butter to the mix and rub the butter into the flour mix with your fingers to create little crumble chunks. You shouldn’t have too much powdery texture in your mix.
- Bake at 200C/400F for 40 minutes.
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