Strawberry Rhubarb Oat Crumble
Sweet strawberries and tart rhubarb bake under a buttery oat crumble until the fruit bubbles and the topping turns golden. A warm, spoonable dessert that lets the fruit do the talking.
- Total
- 82 min
- Prep 20 · Cook 52 · Rest 10
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Seasoning in layers · Folding
- Sweet
- Oven
Instructions
-
Set a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 190°C.
~15 min
-
Hull 400 g strawberries and cut any large ones in half. Trim 300 g rhubarb and cut into 2 cm pieces. Spread the fruit in a 9x13 inch baking dish.
~8 min
-
Sprinkle 60 g sugar and a pinch of salt over the fruit and toss gently to coat. Set aside while you make the topping.
~3 min
Sugar draws juice from the fruit through osmosis, creating the syrupy liquid that bubbles and thickens during baking.
Rhubarb varies in tartness, so taste a raw piece: if it is very sharp, add an extra tablespoon of sugar to the fruit.
Seasoning in layers Taste rhubarb before baking and adjust sugar to balance its tartness. Under-sweetening leaves the dessert sharp; over-sweetening masks the fruit.
-
In a mixing bowl, combine 100 g flour, 80 g oats and the remaining 60 g sugar. Cut 100 g butter into small cubes and rub it into the dry mix with your fingertips or a pastry cutter until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs with some pea-sized lumps.
~6 min
Rubbing cold butter into flour coats the flour in fat, which limits gluten development and gives a tender, crumbly topping.
Folding Rub butter in with light fingertips until coarse breadcrumbs with pea-sized lumps remain. Overworking melts the butter and makes a dense, pasty topping.
-
Scatter the crumble topping evenly over the fruit, covering it fully. Bake until the fruit juices bubble at the edges and the topping is golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes.
~40 min
The fruit juices must reach a bubbling boil so the released pectin and sugar thicken into a syrupy sauce rather than staying watery.
If the topping browns before the fruit is bubbling, tent the dish loosely with foil and continue baking until the juices thicken at the edges.
-
Let the crumble stand for 10 minutes so the juices settle before spooning into bowls.
~10 min
Resting lets the hot, liquid juices cool and thicken slightly, so they cling to the fruit instead of running across the plate.