Pear, fig and plum crumble

Nothing beats a good, warm fruit crumble with a scoop of vanilla ice cream to put me in a good mood. I make this dessert often because it’s easy, versatile and everyone likes it. Except for my youngest son. He just likes chocolate and ice cream, but that’s another story.

I usually put whatever seasonal fruit we’ve got on hand, and at the moment, the harvest is pretty amazing. We are seeing wonderful fall gems like pears, apples and plums at the market in Le Rouret, a small neighboring town (do check it out if you ever visit the region, it’s a super reasonably-priced local farmer’s market). Also, I’ve been picking tons of fresh figs around our hilly area during my morning dog walks. And since we just can’t eat one more raw fig – there is such a thing as too much – I felt it was the right time to make this delicious crumble. At the last moment, some frozen blackberries from last month’s pickings found their way into the mix, but they are completely optional so no pressure.

The crumble mixture has pecans, which adds a nice autumn touch and a slightly “maply” taste to it so don’t omit those!

Ingredients

Fruit mixture

• 5 pears, peeled, cored and cut into big chunks (I cut each pear into quarters and then cut them twice crosswise)
• 2 1/2 cups of figs (a dozen big ones), with the hard tip cut off, quartered
• 12 small plums, pitted and halved (I use Damson plums, also called “quetsche” here in France)
• 1 cup blackberries
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar (regular works too)
• 3 tbsp corn starch or flour
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Pecan crumble

• 1 cup (80g) rolled oats
• 1/2 cup (60g) white spelt flour (or regular white flour if you prefer)
• 1/2  cup (110g) butter , softened
• 1/3 cup coconut sugar (maple syrup also works well)
• 1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 175C
2. Place all the fruit mixture ingredients in a large bowl and mix gently until the sugar and flour evenly coat the fruit
3. Pour the fruits in a 9×12 inch baking pan
4. In a separate bowl, mix all the crumble ingredients with your (clean) hands so as to get a crumbly mixture that resembles coarse meal
5. Pour the crumble on top evenly on the fruits
6. Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes or until the fruit is cooked through and bubbling. The crumble should be a nice light brown color.  Take out of the oven and let cool.
7. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream (optional)