Gooseberry Crumble

Who doesn’t like gooseberry crumble? I think it is probably my favourite pudding of all time, so I always find space for a few bags or punnets of gooseberries in my freezer. Gooseberries cook really well from frozen and can be teamed up with a ready-frozen crumble mixture for a fantastically simple dessert. If using fresh gooseberries you can cut the cooking time by 10 minutes or so. If you are using frozen gooseberries, you don't need to thaw them before top and tailing, just rub between your fingertips while they are still frozen.

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 40

Total Time 1

Servings 6

Ingredients

700 g fresh or frozen gooseberries, topped and tailed
75 g caster sugar
1 tbsp cornflour

Crumble mix

175 g plain flour
50 g porridge oats
125 g demerara sugar
125 g cold butter, cubed

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200C/Fan 180C/Gas 6. To make the crumble mix, put the flour, oats and sugar in a large bowl and add the butter. Rub together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
Place the frozen gooseberries in a shallow 1.75-litre ovenproof dish and toss with the sugar and cornflour. Sprinkle the crumbs evenly over the top.
To eat now, bake in the centre of the oven for 35-45 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and the filling is bubbling.

Notes

Cook's tip

You can freeze whole gooseberries without topping and tailing if you like. Simply rub off the ends with your fingers as soon as you take the gooseberries out of the freezer.

To freeze

Prepare the crumble mixture as described. Tip into a freezer bag, seal, label and freeze for up to three months. The gooseberries can be frozen whole in bags or freezer-proof containers. To fully prepare the the pudding for freezing, follow all the steps as fresh but make the pudding in a freezer and overproof container. Instead of baking, double wrap the dish in foil. Label and freeze.

To serve

Scatter the frozen gooseberries into a 1.75-litre ovenproof dish and toss with the sugar and cornflour if necessary. Top with the frozen crumble mixture and bake in the centre of the oven for about 40 minutes. If cooking the assembled pudding, place on a baking tray and bake for around 60 minutes, covering the dish with foil for the first 20 minutes of cooking time.