The thing is, crumble is even better than pie. And I say this as a person who really loves pie. The fruit is so insanely gorgeous--at all turns a mix of bright orange and deep red--and it goes so beautifully with that meltingly crisp, brown-sugary crumb topping.
What you'll need
- FILLING
- 2 pounds of apricots
- 1 pound of cherries
- 1/4 cup (scant) flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- TOPPING
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) cold salted butter, cut into small pieces
When cherry and apricots aren't in season, you can make it with peaches and blueberries, though you'll want to increase the flour and sugar a bit to compensate for juiciness and tartness.
Yields 4-8, depending
How to make it
Heat the oven to 400. Halve the apricots, pit them, then halve them again into quarters (or, if they're not super-ripe, slice them up a bit more). Pit the cherries. Combine the fruit with 1/4 cup flour and 1/3 cup sugar in a bowl, then tip it into a baking dish. (Don't fret if there's some dry flour and sugar kicking around--it will all dissolve as it cooks.)
Make the topping: Combine the flour, brown sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl, then add the butter and work it in with your fingers: first toss to coat it with the flour mixture, then take off your rings and use your fingertips to rub the butter into the dry ingredients. This is a messy but not unpleasant job: you'll be lifting handfuls of the mixture up out of the bowl, then gently letting it fall through your fingertips as you rub it lightly together. Eventually, you'll have a bowl full of clumpy lumpy crumble topping.
Crumble the, er, crumble over the, uh, crumble, then bake it in the oven for 40-45 minutes until it is browned and bubbling. Serve hot, warm, room temperature, or cold with ice cream or whipped cream.
