Strawberry Rhubarb Oven Crumble
- Sweet
- Oven
Sweet strawberries and tart rhubarb bake under a golden oat and butter crumble. A warm, fruity dessert with a crisp, buttery top and tender fruit below.
- Total
- 72 min
- Prep 15 · Cook 47 · Rest 10
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Dicing · Creaming butter
Instructions
-
Heat the oven to 190°C. Hull the strawberries and cut them into 2 cm pieces. Trim the rhubarb and cut it into 2 cm pieces.
~10 min
Dicing Cut the fruit into even 2 cm pieces so it cooks at the same rate; uneven chunks leave some mushy and some firm.
-
Toss the strawberries and rhubarb in the baking dish with 50 g of the sugar, 1 tbsp of the flour, the salt and the black pepper. Spread the fruit in an even layer.
~5 min
The sugar draws juice from the fruit and the flour thickens it, so the filling sets into a glossy sauce instead of turning watery.
-
In the mixing bowl, combine the remaining 60 g flour, the oats and the remaining 60 g sugar. Cut in the cold butter with a pastry cutter or fork until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs with some pea-sized butter pieces.
~7 min
Cold butter stays in distinct lumps that melt in the oven, releasing steam and creating the crisp, flaky pockets that make a good crumble topping.
Keep the butter cold and stop cutting when you still see small butter lumps; those pockets melt into the crispest parts of the topping.
Creaming butter Work the cold butter into the dry mix only until pea-sized lumps remain; overworking melts it and gives a dense, sandy topping instead of a crisp one.
-
Scatter the crumble evenly over the fruit. Bake until the topping is golden brown and the fruit juices bubble at the edges, 35 to 40 minutes.
~40 min
Bubbling juices at the edges show the filling has reached a simmer and the starch has thickened, while the browned top signals the crumble is set.
If the topping browns before the fruit is tender, lay a sheet of foil loosely over the dish for the last 10 minutes of baking.
-
Let the crumble stand for 10 minutes so the juices settle before serving.
~10 min
Resting lets the thickened juices reabsorb and firm up, so portions hold together and the filling does not run when you serve it.
