Autumn Fruit Crumble Flan Recipe

2 cooking (tart) apples, sliced

100 g/4 oz blackberries

30 ml/2 tbsp apple juice
Caster (superfine) sugar, to taste
10 ml/2 tsp arrowroot

15 ml/1 tbsp cold water
175 g wholemeal flour
A pinch of salt
75 g/3 oz butter or hard block margarine, diced
Cold water, to mix

Method:

Put the apples and blackberries in a saucepan with the apple juice. Cover and stew gently until tender. Sweeten to taste with caster sugar. Blend the arrowroot with the water and stir in. Bring to the boil, stirring until thickened. Leave to cool while making the pastry (paste) and crumble.

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Add the butter or margarine and rub in with the fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in 75g of caster sugar. Take out 4 heaped tablespoons of the mixture and reserve. Mix the remainder with enough cold water to form a firm dough. Knead gently on a lightly floured surface. Roll out and use to line an 18 cm/7 in flan dish (pie pan). Spoon in the apple and blackberry mixture and sprinkle the reserved crumble mixture over the top. Bake in a preheated oven at 190°C/375°F/gas mark 5 for about 30 minutes until golden brown.