This recipe for English Winter Dried Fruit Crumble is deliciously vegan, and has been adapted from a recipe contained within the cookery book Traditional Farmhouse Fare A collection of country recipes from Farmers Weekly [2010].
The book is composed of a collection of readers recipes and the Winter Crumble was sent in by a Miss Alex Welch, of Cockerton, County Durham [England].
The stewed dried fruit is reminiscent of festive mincemeat while the crumble topping is melt-in-the-mouth buttery, crisp, crunchy, and deliciously spiced with Christmas flavours.
Similar to a hot indulgent Christmas mince pie or a fruit crumble slice.
Enjoy with a drizzle of vegan cream, or hot custard or a scoop of vegan vanilla ice-cream for the easiest comfort food winter pudding.
Dried fruit crumble is the perfect autumn, fall and winter dessert as only pantry ingredients are required and the dried fruit can be a mix of whatever you have to hand.
If preferred bake these wee vegan crumble desserts in an air-fryer instead of the oven, but do consult the operating booklet for advice on times, temps, etc.
What is a fruit crumble?
A crumble is in essence a mix of flour, margarine or butter, and sugar which is rubbed together to form crumbly pieces before being used as a topping over fresh or stewed fruits. Popular additions to the crumble topping include oats, spices, nuts, seeds and desiccated coconut.
Fruit crumbles are said to have originated in England but they are now widely popular across the British Isles as they are budget-friendly, easy, tasty, and warming family puds or desserts. Over in the US a fruit crumble would more likely be called a fruit crisp.
During the British world war two era fruit crumbles were very popular as they provided a cheaper more economical way to enjoy a hot fruit pudding, compared to an apple or fruit pie. The British Ministry of Food provided fruit crumble recipes for citizens to enjoy within the kitchen home front.
Fruit crumbles are the perfect way to use up fresh fruits, frozen fruits and dried fruits. Even more perfect is windfall fruits or blackberries/brambles that are foraged for free as these are ideal for autumn and fall crumbles.
Also reduced priced fruits from the supermarkets that may not be great for eating fresh, are ideal for baking into a homecooked tasty crumble.
During the winter season dried fruits are great for adding to a fruit crumble as they are shelf staple, and are delicious when stewed and enjoyed with a crisp buttery topping.
If you love Christmas mince pies or fruit crumble bars/slice, or even a Scottish fruit slice then this wee tasty dessert is for you!
How to prepare vegan English Winter Dried Fruit Crumble
Two steps are all that is required to prepare the tastiest autumn and winter comfort food crumble.
Winter fruit crumbles are perfect for those times when no fresh fruits are easily available as a tasty vegan pudding can be whipped up with just a few pantry ingredients.
Use whatever dried fruits you have to hand, and omit the orange zest if preferred.
Replace the orange juice with a splash of Brandy for an extra special Christmas fruit crumble.
First, add your chosen dried fruits to a saucepan. We used a mixture of dried cherries, dried cranberries, dried dates, currants and raisins as that's what we had to use up in the food cupboard. An already prepared dried fruit mix, those intended for Christmas cakes and puddings, would be perfect.
Add the orange zest, sugar, orange juice and water, and stew for 8-10 minutes.
Meanwhile prepare the crumble topping.
Add the margarine, flour, sugar, oats, and mixed spice powder [or apple pie/pumpkin pie spice, or 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 teaspoon ginger] to a mixing bowl.
Using your finger tips rub the margarine into the rest of the ingredients.
This crumble topping is more rustic compared to a finer crumble topping, so it will need to be finished off with a cutlery knife.
Briskly chop the large clumps into smaller ones.
Divide the stewed dried fruits between the six ramekins or small individual baking dishes.
Share the crumble topping between the dishes and bake for 25 minutes.
[An air fryer could be used instead to bake the crumble, but do check your operating booklet for times, etc.]
Enjoy the dried fruit crumbles hot with a drizzle of vegan pouring cream if liked. We used Alpro single soya cream which is shelf staple so handy to have in the food cupboard.
Recipe notes
Storage and reheating
- Dried fruit crumble is best eaten on the day of baking as it can become drier as its reheated. Although do add extra vegan cream to compensate!
- Leftover crumble can be left within the baking dishes and covered with food wrap and stored within the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Before reheating remove from the refrigerator and bring up to room temperature so that the dishes do not get shocked at the sudden temp change, as they could crack.
- Reheat at the baking temperature until warmed through. Cover the tops with kitchen foil if preferred to prevent too much browning of the crisp topping.
- Or reheat in an air-fryer.
- Leftover crumble can be frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost to room temperature before reheating.
Any dried fruits are perfect for a winter fruit crumble. If the dried fruit is larger than a raisin then do chop them up into smaller pieces.
Tasty dried fruits:
* raisins
* currants
* sultanas [golden raisins]
* cranberries
* goji berries
* cherries
* blueberries
* apricots
* dates
* prunes
* papaya
* pineapple
* melon
* figs
* peaches
* apples
* bananas [not the hard banana chips]
Or use a ready prepared dried fruit mix, the ones intended for Christmas cakes and Christmas puddings.
Yes, fresh fruits are a tasty addition to the wee fruit crumbles.
If you have a few fresh berries to use up then they can be added fresh to the dried fruit crumble. Simply add the berries on top of the stewed fruits in the ramekins. Then top with the crumble topping.
A good choice is a few blackberries/brambles, raspberries, blueberries, black or red currants, etc.
Alternatively if you would like to add one or two apples, then stew these along with the dried fruits as depending on the type of apple they may not cook soft in time during baking. If the apples are a less sweet variety then a few extra tablespoons of sugar can be added to the mix.
Fresh orange, tangerine, clementine's etc, segments are also a tasty addition, and they do not need extra cooking.
Yes. This winter dried fruit crumble can be enjoyed as gluten-free by replacing the self-raising flour with a gluten-free self raising/rising flour blend.
We like using Freee Doves Farm Gluten Free Self-Raising flour, which is available in most UK supermarkets and is a mix of Rice, Potato, Tapioca, Maize, and Buckwheat flours, with raising agents and xantham gum included in the mix.
Yes. If desired then replace the self-raising or self-rising flour with plain flour or all-purpose flour. Although do add ¼ teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of baking powder to the crumble mixture.
Absolutely.
Try one of the following:
* tinned or canned fruit [which is perfect as no preparing of the fruit is required, use a single fruit or a mixture, or go with a can of fruit cocktail, add a drizzle of the fruit juice as well to each mini crumble]
* use a few scoops of fruit jam, fruit preserves, marmalades, etc instead of the stewed dried fruits
* frozen fruits [these wont need precooking before being added to the crumble, just add to the baking dishes and thaw a little]
More tasty vegan autumn, fall, and winter puddings
Slow cooker old-school steamed jam pudding
Slow cooker traditional British spotted dick
Traditional British semolina pudding [old-fashioned milk pudding]
Slow cooker traditional rice pudding
Old-school dinners jam and coconut sponge [enjoy with hot custard]
English Winter Dried Fruit Crumble
Equipment
- 6 ramekins [mini pie dishes/soufflé dishes or similar, about 2 inches deep and 3-4 inches wide at the surface]
- Mixing bowl
- Saucepan
- citrus zester or fine grater optional, only required if using fresh orange zest
Ingredients
Filling:
- 250 grams dried fruit [see notes below]
- 3 tablespoon orange juice [or apple juice, or brandy for festive crumbles] [if using orange zest squeeze the juice out of the orange also]
- 1 whole orange zest [zest/grate the rind] optional omit if preferred
- 3 tablespoon granulated sugar [or caster, brown sugar etc]
Crumble:
- 100 grams vegan margarine [such as Stork, or vegan butter]
- 80 grams demerara sugar
- 75 grams self-raising flour
- 100 grams jumbo rolled oats [porridge oats, use regular porridge oats if preferred]
- 2 teaspoon mixed spice [or apple pie/pumpkin spice or 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 teaspoon ginger]
Instructions
- Add the dried fruit, orange juice, grated/zested orange rind, sugar and 10 tablespoons of water to a saucepan. [the orange zest is optional, and the orange juice can be shop-bought rather than freshly squeezed from the zested orange]Bring to a simmer and over a medium heat stew for 8-10 minutes. Stir frequently and add extra tablespoons of water if necessary to prevent sticking. Set aside whilst the topping is prepared.250 grams dried fruit, 3 tablespoon orange juice, 1 whole orange zest, 3 tablespoon granulated sugar
- Preheat the oven to 160 Fan / 180 C / 350 Fahrenheit / Gas 4.[the fruit crumbles can be baked in an air-fryer but do have a look at the operating booklet for advice on times, temps, etc]
- Add all the crumble ingredients, flour, sugar, mixed spice, margarine, and oats to a mixing bowl and use your fingertips to rub the mixture into clumpy chunky crumbs. Once the crumble can not be easily rubbed but the pieces are still a little large use a cutlery knife to chop briskly through the mixture.100 grams vegan margarine, 80 grams demerara sugar, 75 grams self-raising flour, 100 grams jumbo rolled oats, 2 teaspoon mixed spice
- The crumble topping will be more rustic with larger pieces than a regular crumble.
- Divide the dried fruit mixture between the ramekins. It may not look like much but it is filling!
- Divide the crumble topping between each ramekin.
- Bake on the middle shelf for 25 minutes, until the crumble topping is golden and crisp.
- Serve hot with vegan cream poured over the top or around the sides.
Notes
- Nutritional info is provided for guidance only and is not intended to be an exact calculation as ingredients vary.
- Dried fruit crumble is at its best soon after baking.
- Although leftover crumble can be left within the baking dishes and covered with food wrap and stored within the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Before reheating remove from the refrigerator and bring up to room temperature so that the dishes do not get shocked at the sudden temp change as they could crack.
- Reheat at the baking temperature until warmed through. Cover the tops with kitchen foil if preferred to prevent too much browning of the crisp topping.Add
- Or reheat in an air-fryer.
- Add extra vegan cream or custard if the crumble dries out a little after reheating.
- Leftover crumble can be frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost to room temperature before reheating.
- For the 250g of dried fruit I used 50g dried cherries, 50g dried cranberries, 50g currants, 50g raisins and 50g chopped dried dates. Use whatever dried fruits you have available and chop any larger than raisins.
- The porridge oats used was Quaker Jumbo Rolled Oats, which provided a tasty rustic crumble as the pieces of oats toasted and were large enough to have a good crunchy texture.
- However use ordinary rolled porridge oats if preferred.
- Stork baking spread was used for the crumble topping.
- If no small citrus squeezer/juicer is available for the orange, then just dig a cutlery spoon firmly into a sliced orange, and move it around and it will remove the juice.
Nutrition
Prepared this tasty English Winter Dried Fruit Crumble?
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Thanks so much, Jacq x
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