k  Apricot & Raspberry Summer Crumble Tart (with crushed white chocolate Magnums)  k

We leave the baking sunshine of the campo laden with baskets of juicy ripe apricots from my friend Camilla Ham’s orchard trees with the help of her lovely boys Liam and Hayden. Why does it always taste so much better when you pick your own?

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I ask her if she has any recipe suggestions for using them? She quickly produced a gorgeous cookbook called Under Valnotstradet by Anna and Fanny Bergenstrom – blimey, a Swedish Fanny Cradock!

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We found a delicious looking recipe that looked like a summer crumble, but when she translated it, it appeared to have a solid crumble base with a crumble topping.

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The ratio of fat to flour is higher than a regular crumble mix so you get a biscuity crunchy texture, which is absolutely lovely. I tweaked the recipe a bit by using spelt flour and the addition of ground almonds and raw cane sugar (making it a little bit healthier).

I cannot resist the dense textured juiciness and the soft baby cheeked skin of an apricot. Don’t let their tiny size fool you -zero fat and plenty of fibre, apricots are packed with ample doses of other essential vitamins particularly Vitamin A and potassium which is an electrolyte that helps you maintain good fluid balance. Apricots and tart raspberries are a match made in heaven. So that’s the healthy part at least…the not so healthy part is the crumble part, but a little indulgence doesn’t hurt anyone now and again!

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When I came to serving I realised I had forgotten to buy pouring cream, but instead found some white chocolate Magnums kicking around in the freezer. So I slipped them off the stick and roughly chopped them up and served them in a bowl on the side. Golly gosh – big treat. The crunchy buttery crumble topping (and base) with lashing of soft fruit bursting with juicy goodness really radiates mood-enhancing sunniness in every bite. I’m so making this recipe again – come Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter!

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Ingredients (serves 6)

700g ripe apricots – stone removed and cut into a halves
2 punnets of raspberries
150g spelt flour
60g ground almonds
125g golden caster sugar (or raw cane sugar)
150g chilled butter cut into cubes
1 tablespoon cornflour
Vanilla icing sugar to decorate

Method

1. Heat your oven to 200 degrees. In a mixing bowl add the flour, almonds, butter and rub together roughly – you are wanting to have a few lumpy bits of butter in the mix. Add the sugar but reserve a couple of tablespoons to scatter over the fruit

2. In a fluted tart tin (or similar) tip half the crumble mix and flatten it down with the back of a spoon. Bake for 10 minutes

3. Remove the biscuit base from the oven and sprinkle over the cornflour, this soaks up the fruit juices and stops the base getting a soggy bottom! Arrange the apricots and raspberries over the base with 2 tablespoons of sugar then tip over the remaining crumble mix. Bake for about 35 minutes or until lovely and crunchy golden. Serve with pouring cream or for extra indulgence, white chocolate Magnums AND cream!