Apple and Berry Crumble for the Whole Family (low sugar)

My husband had a rough morning at the weekend with my son.  It's my fault, we're trying to get him to go swimming and we haven't done so regularly since he was a baby.  It was always something I'd intended to do but my son was a bad sleeper and getting him to nap was vital for a night's sleep.  Ironically bad naps in the day meant bad sleeping at night.

All of the baby swimming classes seemed to coincide with when he normally napped and they were all things I needed to commit to for 10 weeks or more.  So, I just didn't.

Fast forward to 2 and a half and we have a little boy who is a bit scared of water.  He will get in but clings like a limpet around your neck.  We started taking him to classes (or rather my husband did) and things were gradually improving but then this Sunday, it all took a turn for the worse.

So this is what I made to cheer up my husband.  Not sugar free baking but certainly low sugar.  Only 20g added sugar per portion.

Apple and Berry Crumble - Serves 2 Adults or 1 adult and a very hungry toddler!

Ingredients

3 small dessert apples
110g, 4oz Frozen mixed berries (my mix had blackberries, cherries, strawberries, raspberries, redcurrants and blackcurrants)
110g, 4oz Plain flour (use wholemeal if liked but you might want more sugar if you do)
60g, 2oz Butter
40g, 1.5oz Light Muscovado Sugar, reserve 1 tsp (demerara is also good)
1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon
A few gratings of nutmeg

Method

Preheat the oven to 200oC / 400F.

Peel and chop the apples and stew with a few tbsp of water with a lid on over a low heat.  When starting to soften, blitz a little with a hand blender to puree some of but leave some lumps.  Pour into the dish.  Then heat the fruit (you can do so from frozen) until thawed and leaking juice.  Mix the apple into the berries and pour back into the baking dish.

Rub the butter, flour, spices and all apart from the 1 tsp of sugar together.  You can do this in a food processor but it's so much better by hand because the unevenness of it improves the texture and appearance I think.

If you want to prepare this in advance, allow the filling to cool and refrigerate and refrigerate the topping separately.  Don't assemble until you're ready to cook or the topping goes a bit soggy.

Once you're ready to cook, add the crumble topping on top then the reserved tsp of sugar and bake for 20 minutes or until browned.

Serve with custard (traditional), cream (my preference) or ice cream (a shooting offence with hot crumble if you believe my father in law).

If you like this but you're looking for sugar free / no added sugar baking, take a look on the right hand side of my blog.  I've added a new 'label' to sugar free baked goods and recipes containing no junk, no sweeteners, all natural stuff!  Enjoy!