Happy December everyone!
Today marks the day where it is officially acceptable to listen/sing along to Christmas songs and have Love Actually and Home Alone on repeat! Plus it's also 24 sleeps to my birthday!
It also comes as no surprise that December is my favourite month of the year - its the month filled with festivity, hot chocolate, presents, excitement, mince pies, brandy butter, brussels sprouts, a winter chill, and joy.
To kick it all off, I wanted to make something special; Mango, Pear and Ginger Crumble. The name says it all.
The combination of flavours are delightful - sweet succulent pears, a slight tang from the partially unripe mango, and the earthy sharpness of the crystalised ginger slivers. And then there is the crumble; perfectly crumbly with a bite from the walnuts.
Serve it warm, cold, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, cream or even a dollop of brandy butter. Sighh
Some of the ingredients
Mango, Pear and Ginger Crumble
Adapted from BBC Good Food Magazine
Serves 4
Ingredients
Filling
450g ripe pears, cored and roughly chopped
1 tbsp muscovado sugar
2 mangoes, slightly unripened, peeled, stoned and chunked
4-8 pieces of crystalised ginger, sliced thinly
Crumble
175g plain flour
85g butter
85g muscovado sugar
85g walnuts/pecans roughly chopped
Method
- Heat oven to 180C. Put pears into a pan with one tablespoon sugar and 4 tablespoons water. Cook over a gentle heat for 10 minutes, or until the pears are just tender.
- Remove from heat and add the mangoes and ginger. Spoon mixture into desired baking dishes and leave to cool.
- In the meanwhile, make the crumble. Rub butter into flour and stir in sugar and walnuts/pecans. Sprinkle generously over the fruit, then bake for 30 minutes until crumble is browned.
Nb. I found that by using semi ripened mangoes, it prevents the chunks of mangoes from turning into mushy pieces as well as giving the crumble a more robust, tangy flavour. The original recipe calls for stem ginger but crystalised ginger works just as well.
As with most crumbles, this can be made ahead. Wrap the uncooked crumble in cling film and freeze up to 1 month. To serve, bake from frozen at 180C for 50 minutes or until top is golden.