Fruit Crumble Bars

I'd looked online for a fruit crumble bar recipe which I thought wasn't a load of faff.  I failed to find one so this is what I came up with.  It's simple and you could switch in whatever fruit you have in the fruit bowl looking past it's best.

Although plums aren't seasonal in the UK at least, they are in South Africa and the UK are a major export market.  Irrespective of what you think of imported fruit and vegetables, these plums were lovely.  Juicy, delicious and sweet but unfortunately my son on a whim has decided he doesn't like plums or maybe he's aware it's not UK plum season.  Who knows?  Stranger things have happened than my son deciding to put his foot down on carbon footprints.  Well he is 3.

If you are sticking to more locally sourced fruit, why not try using frozen fruit instead?  Raspberries might work well but will probably need boiling down more so they're not too wet.

Fruit Crumble Bars - makes 9 generous sized bars

Ingredients

100g, 3.5oz Plain (all purpose) flour

100g, 3.5oz Porridge oats

100g, 3.5oz Sugar

100g, 3.5oz Butter

1 egg

2-3 Ripe large plums

1 tsp Cornflour (cornstarch)

Method

Stone the plums and cut into small pieces (don't skin them).  Heat in a pan with a tbsp of water until the juices start to run, a few minutes or so.  Check they're not too sour (add sugar if wanted but remember the crumble is sweet.  I didn't add any sugar.)  Mix the cornflour with a tbsp water and mix into the hot plums to thicken the juice.  Take off the heat.

Preheat the oven to 200oC / 400F, Gas Mark 6.

In a food processor or bowl rub the flour, oats, sugar and butter together.  Add the egg to bring together.

Line a  20cm by 20 cm (8 inch by 8 inch) baking dish with baking paper.

Press two thirds of the mix into the base.

Top the base with the plum mix then loosely crumble the remaining mix on top.

Bake for approx 18-20 minutes or until hot through and browned on top.

Cut into bars and serve warm (not hot) or cold.  When cold store in an airtight tin.  Best eaten the same day or the next.

Make it Thrifty

Use anything which is needing eating up in your fruit bowl, especially stone fruit or berries.

I would be absolutely honoured if you would consider nominating me in the Britmums BIB awards, especially the food category.