Colm O'Gorman's autumn apple and blackberry crumble with hazelnuts and Irish whiskey cream

Irish hedgerows are generally full of brambles, so if you have some near you, go grab your berries

'The combination of apple, blackberries, caramel, and hazelnuts is fabulous.'

Autumn was the time to pick wild fruit when I was little. Crab-apples, not to eat, of course, but for homemade crab-apple jelly, and maybe some wild rosehips. Blackberries were my favourite wild autumn bounty though. Plump, sweet and delicious, I could eat those straight off the bramble by the handful. A few of us siblings would go out to pick them, and after having our fill, we would return home with full buckets that my mother would then use to make jam or maybe an apple and blackberry tart.

Wild blackberries usually come into season here in late August or early September, but they have taken longer to ripen this year, perhaps because we have had a drier summer than usual. The fruit are smaller than usual for certain, but still full of flavour.

Irish hedgerows are generally full of brambles, so if you have some near you, go get the berries before the birds take them all. Pick the ripe juicy ones, they will be deep black in colour with plump, full, soft fruit. A ripe blackberry will come away from the stalk with just a gentle tug, and you do need to be gentle, or the ripe fruit will burst in your hands. If the berries are red or purple, leave them on the bramble, they are not ripe yet. Move on and leave those for someone else or for the birds.

We have lots of brambles in the ditches around our garden, so I went out picking them this past weekend and used them with some apples from the garden to make a gorgeous crumble. I pan-cooked the apples for just a minute in butter and brown sugar to add a lovely caramel flavour, before layering them in a baking dish and adding the freshly picked blackberries. I made a crumble topping with lots of butter, brown sugar, and hazelnuts.

The combination of apple, blackberries, caramel, and hazelnuts was fabulous. We had this with freshly whipped cream, sweetened with just a little caster sugar, and flavoured with some Irish whiskey. If you want to skip the whiskey, substitute that for a teaspoon of vanilla essence to make a classic Chantilly cream.

This recipe will serve six to eight people.

Apple and Wild Blackberry Crumble with Hazelnuts and Irish Whiskey Cream

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

If you want to skip the whiskey, substitute that for a teaspoon of vanilla essence to make a classic Chantilly cream.

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 30 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 60 mins

Course

 Dessert

Ingredients

• For the filling:

• 1kg cooking apples

• 50g butter

• 50g soft brown sugar

• 250g fresh blackberries

• For the crumble:

• 120g plain flour

• 120g soft brown sugar

• 90g butter

• ½ tsp ground cinnamon

• a pinch of fresh ground nutmeg

• 100g roasted hazelnuts

• To serve:

• 500ml fresh cream

• 1 tsp caster sugar

• 1 tbsp Irish whiskey

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 175 Celsius.

2. Wash the blackberries to remove any debris. As ripe blackberries are very tender and burst easily, I do this by putting them in a large bowl and adding lots of cold water. Swirl the berries around in the water and you will see any little bits of debris rise to the surface. Drain off the water and repeat, rinsing the berries this way a few times until the water is clean. Finally, drain off the water and set the berries aside while you prepare the apples.

3. 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.

4. 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 about two minutes. Do not leave the apples on for too long as they will cook too much for this stage and become very soft. I like my apples to have some bite in a crumble, so I pan roast them like this for no more than two minutes. Remember they still have another thirty minutes in the oven to go.

5. Layer the apples in a deep baking dish, pouring over any caramel left in the pan. Scatter the blackberries evenly across the top of the apples and set aside while you make the crumble topping.

6. Put the butter, sugar, flour, and spice for the crumble into a food processor. Blitz until everything is well combined and you get a clumpy cookie dough like mixture.

7. Chop or crush the hazelnuts. I do this by putting the nuts on a chopping broad and lightly crushing them with a rolling pin. Break them up into rough pieces, keeping at least half of the nuts in halves or quarters for the best texture and flavour. Add the nuts to the crumble and mix them through using your fingers.

8. Layer the crumble over the fruit, pop the baking tray in the oven and bake for thirty minutes or until the crumble is toasted and nicely golden on top. When it is done, remove it from the oven and set aside to cool just a little while you prepare the cream.

9. Pour the cream into a large mixing bowl along with the sugar and the whiskey, or vanilla essence if you prefer. Beat the cream until you get smooth, gentle peaks. Serve the crumble warm with a generous dollop of cream.