Strawberry and Almond Crumble

With strawberries staring at me from every fruit vendor sitting at every other street corner, I know I had to make something glorious of them and soon. So I bought home two boxes of strawberries as soon I possibly could, and promptly finished a box of strawberries with Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup.

With one box of strawberries keeping me away from glory, I wondered what it was that I could make with the least amount of fuss possible. What could I possibly make of strawberries which would not only be absolutely addictive and of some ‘show-off’ value but would could be made with the least amount of effort possible?

It was then that it struck me. Whenever in doubt, crank open Nigella’s cookbooks. I suddenly remembered that Nigella’s Stawberry and Almond Crumble has been something which has been on my ‘On-Bake’ list for ages, and this would be the absolute perfect time to conquer it.

So I give to you, the Strawberry and Almond Crumble.

Strawberry and Almond Crumble

Serves : 6-8 servings or 2 strawberry lovers.
Difficulty : A tad bit tricky. But if you don’t cut yourself while chopping, go ahead please.
Preparation Time : 10 minutes.
Cook Time :30 minutes + 10 minutes (standing)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 to 2 cups of sliced Strawberries
• 1/4 cup Caster Sugar
• 1/4 cup ground Almonds
• 4 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2/3 cup of Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 5 tbsp (A little more than 1/4 cup) of cold Butter
• 1/2 cup sliced Almonds
• 1/2 cup Demerara/Brown sugar

Gather all the strawberries around, and hull them. Which is just a fancy way of saying ‘Cut off the green leafy top of the strawberries’.

Once hulled, slice and dice em’.

Throw them all in a pie dish (9 inches in diameter).

Sprinkle in the 1/4 cup Caster Sugar, 1/4 cup ground Almonds and the 4 tsp Vanilla Extract.

Toss it around so the caster. almond, vanilla gets uniformly coated around the strawberries. Let them get to know each other better. Their newly formed friendship will smell heavenly.

While their friendship blossoms (*sniff* That lovely smell in the air!), preheat the oven at 180 C.

In a dry bowl add in the flour and cold cubes of butter.

Rub through the cubes of butter and flour, breaking it slightly between your thumb and fingers as you go along. After 3 to 4 minutes, it’ll all break down and look like coarse sand.

Add in the sliced almonds and brown sugar, and just mix through slightly.

In the pie dish with strawberries, heap on the dry mixture.

Flatten it out evenly with your fingers or a fork.

Bake at 200°C for 30 minutes.

Take it out of the oven, and if you are lucky, you’ll have ruby red juices of the strawberries escaping out of the crumble.

Like this.

And this.

I cannot express in words how incredible it smells.

Let this stand for a minimum of 10 minutes.

Once cooled down, spoon out generous measures of the crumble.

Serve with whipped cream, or good ol’ vanilla ice cream and some fresh strawberries.

The sweetness of the strawberries mingle perfectly with the warm crumble. And the ice cream just takes it to a whole different level.

You sense the softness of the fruit, the crunch of the almond, and the chew of the crumble.

It is pure bliss.

Go on, serve another plate.

Let the compliments continue, won’t you?