How to make Colm O'Gorman's festive apple and cranberry pecan crumble

This crumble recipe is a beautiful festive dessert

I love fresh cranberries. I love how tart and yet sweet they are, how beautifully they work in both sweet and savoury dishes. They are wonderfully versatile. I am always thrilled to see them arrive in the supermarkets, and I buy kilos of them, making lots of cranberry sauce, desserts, muffins and more. I also freeze a few punnets so that I have some to hand out of season.

This crumble recipe pairs cranberries with apples, topped with a lightly spiced pecan crumb. It is a beautiful festive dessert, perfect for a holiday lunch or supper if you have a gang to feed. It is quite quick to prepare, and if you wish, you can even prepare it in advance and then pop it in the oven to bake thirty minutes before you need to serve it. Make sure to use cooking apples for this recipe.

I serve this with a creamy orange homemade custard. I love making custard, there is something magical about seeing the eggs and cream thicken into smooth velvety custard as you stir. It does take a little effort, but it is very much worth it. If you prefer to keep it simple though, you could serve this crumble with my lovely whisky cream which takes just minutes to pull together.

Apple and Cranberry Pecan Crumble

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

This crumble is a beautiful festive desert, perfect for a holiday lunch or supper if you have a gang to feed

Servings

8

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 45 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• Crumble filling

• 1kg bramley apples

• 50g butter

• 50g soft brown sugar

• 300g fresh cranberries

• Crumble topping

• 180g plain flour

• 180g soft brown sugar

• 135g butter

• 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon

• ½ tsp mixed spice

• 150g pecans

• To serve:

• Orange custard

• 150ml double cream

• 375ml whole milk

• 1 vanilla pod

• 4 egg yolks

• 20g cornflour

• 75g caster sugar

• Juice and zest of one orange

• Or: Whiskey Cream

• 500ml fresh cream

• 1 tsp caster sugar

• 1 tbsp Irish whiskey

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 175 Celsius.

2. Rinse the cranberries. Peel and core the apples, cutting them into wedges about two centimetres thick. Heat a large heavy based frying pan over a high heat, and when it is good and hot, toss in the butter. When the butter melts fully and starts to foam, add the apples and the brown sugar. Reduce the heat to medium and stir the pan to coat the apples fully as the sugar melts into the butter and makes a soft caramel. This will only take a few minutes. I like my apples to have some bite in a crumble, so I pan roast them like this for no more than five minutes.

3. Remember they still have another thirty minutes in the oven to go. Add the cranberries and stir those through the apples for the final minute of cooking time in the pan.

4. Layer the apple and cranberry in a deep baking dish, pouring over any caramel left in the pan and set aside while you prepare the crumble topping.

5. Cube the butter and pop it into a food processor along with the sugar, flour and spices. Use the dough blade and pulse until you get a very fine breadcrumb like texture. Chop or crush the nuts. Break them up into rough pieces, keeping at least half of the pecans in halves or quarters for the best texture and flavour. Add the nuts to the crumble and mix them through using your fingers so that you get a nice clumpy topping mixture.

6. Layer the crumble over the fruit, pop the baking tray in the oven and bake for thirty minutes until the crumble is toasted and nicely golden on top. When it is done, remove it from the oven.

7. If you are serving this with the orange custard, you can prepare that while the crumble is baking.

8. Pour the cream and 325ml of the milk in a pan, add a teaspoon of vanilla extract and bring the pan to a gentle simmer.

9. Add the last 50ml of milk to the egg yolks. Mix the caster sugar and cornflour together in a large bowl, and then add in the milk and egg mixture. Whisk to a smooth paste. The milk should now be close to boiling, so take it off the heat and pour it slowly onto the egg mixture, stirring all the time.

10. When the mixture is nice and smooth, strain it back into a clean pan. Add the zest and juice of an orange and stir to combine. Place the pan over a low heat and keep stirring until the custard thickens. It is ready when the custard coats the back of your spoon. When it looks almost ready, Increase the heat a little until it comes close to a boil, stirring all the time and then reduce again to a simmer, still stirring, for another 2-3 minutes to cook out the cornflour.

11. If you are having the crumble with the whisky cream, you can make that once the crumble is out of her oven.

12. Pour the cream into a large mixing bowl along with the sugar and the whiskey, you can swap the whiskey for vanilla extract if you prefer. Beat the cream until you get smooth, gentle peaks.

13. Serve the crumble warm with the custard on the side, or with a generous dollop of whiskey cream.