There are few things more comforting than a bowl of hot crumble and custard. A classic apple crumble will always reign supreme, but I like to switch things up for the festivities. Mulling pears in wine and spices not only gives wonderful flavours, but also turns the fruit a beautiful shade of red. I like to do that stage in advance, and leave the pears to sit in their poaching liquid for a few hours, to deepen in colour, before I add the topping.
Mulled pear crumble
Prep 20 min
Cook 1 hr
Serves 8-10
For the crumble
250g plain flour
70g jumbo oats
60g caster sugar
30g light brown sugar
150g salted butter, cold and diced
For the filling
500ml red wine
75g caster sugar
1 orange, sliced
2 cinnamon sticks
8 whole cloves
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
30g fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
850g pears
To make the crumble, mix the flour, oats and sugar in a bowl. Add the butter and use your fingertips to rub it into the flour until you have a coarse mixture. Add one or two tablespoons of water, and use a knife to stir until some of the crumble starts to clump together. Chill in the fridge while you prepare the pears.
Put the wine, sugar, orange slices and spices in a saucepan, heat until the sugar dissolves, then simmer for five minutes. Peel and core the pears, roughly chop the flesh into large chunks, add these to the pan and cook gently on a medium heat for about 10 minutes, until the chunks of fruit have slightly softened but still hold their shape. Take off the heat and leave the pears to cool in the wine. You can now leave them for a few hours, or even overnight, to soak up more flavour and deepen in colour.
Spoon the cooled pears and half their poaching liquid into a roughly 26cm x 20cm baking dish. Top with the crumble mix, then bake for 40-45 minutes, until the top is golden and the juices are starting to bubble through.
Bring the remaining poaching liquid to a boil and cook until it reduces down to a syrup. Serve the crumble with lots of custard and a drizzle of the mulled syrup.
