The Good Life

I often share photos on social media of my little plant pot garden, and of the things I make with it. So I thought I'd share a little more in depth, and give you my fail safe crumble recipe too. This post isn't related to anything available on our website, but we often talk about Fairypants being a lifestyle choice, so why not!

We've got a nice big garden at Fairypants HQ, but I prefer to grow things in pots, as I find it a lot easier. It means I go though a heck of a lot of bags of compost, but it's all good.

A selection of the things we are growing at the moment

I won't bore you with the details of everything I am growing, but suffice it to say, if you can grow it in the UK, I'm giving it a bash. Most things have been grown from seed this year, but some things, like my grape vines, rhubarb and herbs come back every year - so they're a huge investment, if you use them a lot!

Rhubarb is NOTORIOUS for taking over your garden, I know this to my cost - I had to hack mine up out of the ground to halt its ever increasing march of destruction. I replanted some of it in a large tub, and now it grows quite happily on the patio. 

See? Happy as Larry, whoever he is. I find that Rhubarb grows super fast too, so even once you've harvested, you won't be waiting long for another crop. It's handy having someone around who's practical too - Mr Fairypants built a pretty swish frame for all my fruit plants - and he's pretty pleased with it. It should protect all my berries from the birds. I've also put lots of different bird seed and fat balls out for the birds, so they don't miss my fruit too much. And I don't feel so guilty about keeping the fruit all to myself.

Mr Fairypant's Fruit Frame

He also made me some troughs for my onions out of drainpipes, so he's pretty handy to have around! I'm hoping to plant some more fruit trees soon too, so next year we can enjoy even more of our home grown food. I've got vegetables more than covered, but I only have a plum tree and an elderberry tree at the moment - I'd love my own apple tree! I'm aiming to be a bit more like Tom and Barbara from the Good Life, so the more I can grow, the better!

Lastly - here's what I think you really want to know - how I make my amazing, mouthwatering crumble. Look at it.

Yum.

I have made this recipe for yonks, and over time my measurements have become a little less precise. I have used different sugars, different butters and different fruit, and all in various quantities. It always turns out amazing, which is why I think this recipe truly is fail safe. Give it a go though, and see for yourselves!

You will need

Fruit (about 400g if you can)

Sugar 50g

Plain flour 150g

Caster Sugar 150g

Butter 150g

Rolled Oats 150g

These last four ingredients are for the crumble topping, and I've adapted the quantities to suit my likes. I originally started with half the quantities, but the crumble topping is my favourite part, so I doubled it. Feel free to halve it again if you're not as crumble obsessed as I am.

Heat your (regular) oven to 190. You'll need to change that temperature to suit your oven if you've got something fancy. Cook your chopped fruit over a low heat with the 50g sugar and a little water. If you're using a particularly 'wet' fruit like berries, you may want to use less water. And if you're using a fruit that's naturally quite sweet, like eating apples, you can use less sugar. I normally use cooking apples, so you need all the help you can get.

Mix your crumble ingredients together in a bowl. If you're a vegan, just use your preferred vegan butter - as long as it's suitable for baking. I sometimes switch oil for butter in cakes, but that won't work in this case, you need the stodginess of the butter. And don't worry if you haven't got the right sugar in your cupboard, I've used all kinds and it always turns out lovely.

Use your fingers to squash and press the oaty dough into little 'tiles' of crumble. Place your cooked fruit in a suitable oven proof bowl, and cover completely with the crumble tiles. You'll have some really crumbly bits left that wouldn't press into a tile, so smooth them over the top once you're done.

Pop the whole thing in the middle shelf for around 20 minutes, or until the topping is all golden and exciting.

Take it out, eat it. I find that this crumble will easily last a few days in the fridge, but it doesn't tend to hang around that long in our house. If you've made as much crumble topping as I usually do, try cooking a little extra fruit, and make a mini version too, in a smaller bowl. I usually do that when I need to ingratiate myself with someone. Presenting someone with their own mini crumble in a tiny bowl is a great way to cheer people up!

My last tip is to reheat portions in the microwave for up to a minute before eating - it tastes so much better hot! The best thing about this crumble is you can use whatever fruit you have lying around. The photo above shows rhubarb, apple and pear. The rhubarb needing bulking up, and I happened to have apples and pears in my fruit bowl. I left the skin on the apples and pears because I think the different colours look nicer, but feel free to peel if you prefer. I also usually add a little cinnamon or all spice depending on the fruit used. This time, because of the rhubarb, I used a little ginger - and it was amazing!

Enjoy growing and baking - I'd love to see your photos of Fairypants Crumble! xox