Children’s food writer Liz Ashworth has some simple tips on picking your own fruit – along with delicious dessert recipes.
One bright autumn day my friend’s son James was out berry picking when he spied an elderly gentleman with what he could only describe as a “hands-free berry collecting kit”.
The idea is very simple – take a clean empty plastic container, such as a 2-litre ice cream tub, punch a hole near the rim on each end and then thread some thick string or cord through each.
Secure with a knot, making sure the device can hang round your neck, at the correct level to allow you to pick berries and pop them into the holder. We found waist height is best.
On top of this creation, James is also a good cook. Here is one of his autumn favourites and one of my own.
Ginger crumble apple cake
Serves 6
Ingredients
- 225g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 60g caster sugar
- 115g butter
- 30g syrup
- 60g porridge oats
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 160ml single cream or creamy milk
- 1 large cooking apple, peeled and chopped (150g approx)
For the topping:
- ½ packet crushed ginger nut biscuits
- 30g porridge oats
- 60g butter melted
Method
- Heat the oven to 140C Fan/160C/325F/Gas Mark 3.
- Oil a baking tin 30cmx20cm (12inx8in).
- Put the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and rub in the butter. Stir in the beaten eggs and cream or milk to make a soft dropping consistency. Fold in the apples and spread evenly in the prepared baking tin.
- Mix the melted butter with the other topping ingredients and scatter over the cake.
- Bake in the middle of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes or till the point of a skewer inserted in the middle comes out cleanly.
- Cool in the tin. Cut into squares and enjoy freshly baked.
James Stockley’s version of bramble and apple crumble
Serves 4
Ingredients
To make the fruit compote:
- 2 large cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
- 225g brambles (some people call them blackberries)
- 1 tbsp soft brown sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- Strip of lemon rind, if you have any (optional)
For the topping:
- 175g plain flour
- ½ large packet of ginger nut biscuits, crushed
- 115g butter
Method
- Heat the oven to 160C Fan/180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.
- Choose a suitable oven-proof pudding dish. Stew the fruit with the sugar, cinnamon stick and lemon rind.
- Remove the cinnamon stick and lemon rind then pour into the pudding dish.
- Make the topping by rubbing the butter into the flour along with the crumbed biscuits.
- Sprinkle the topping over the fruit and bake in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes till golden and crisp.
- Serve warm with cream or ice cream.