Damson Plum Crumble from Butter by Olivia Potts

There’s a wonderful glut of damson plums in the garden at the moment, and I was wondering what to do with the basketful I’d harvested, when Fate stepped in, wearing the guise of food writer Olivia Pott’s new cookbook, Butter: A Celebration.* I was delighted to be sent a press copy of the book from the publisher, and it took me no time at all to spot the solution to my damson conundrum: I would make Olivia’s Damson Plum Crumble. Very kindly, I have been given permission to share the recipe on my blog, so you can enjoy it as well (scroll down for recipe).

Anyone who writes an ode to butter is a girl after my own heart (I didn’t spend my formative years in France, devouring croissants, for nothing!), and I was already a fan of Olivia’s fabulous writing through her foodie column, The Vintage Chef, for the Spectator and her memoir, A Half Baked Idea, which describes Olivia’s decision to give-up a law career and enrol at Le Cordon Bleu, in the midst of grieving the death of her mother. Butter: A Celebration is Olivia’s first cookbook, and I’m looking forward to working my way through many of the recipes.

Butter: A Celebration is filled with both savoury and sweet recipes, all of which are enhanced by the addition of butter, whether a small knob or several ounces. Classics such as Chicken Kiev mingle with more unusual recipes; I’m particularly keen to try the simple (but delicious) sounding Miso Butter Roasted Radishes and the slightly more ambitious Earl Grey Chocolate Tart with Chocolate Pastry. If you’re keen on learning more about pastry, then there’s plenty of helpful advice in Butter. Olivia is a brilliant patisserie chef, and there is a whole section devoted to croissants, with a base dough recipe that is also used in the book for pains aux chocolat, pains aux raisins, Danishes and kouign amann (a Breton speciality). Olivia is the perfect guide for tackling trickier aspects of baking with her encouraging, friendly writing style. Indeed, the book is a joy to read as well as to cook from, with many personal anecdotes, interesting food history and practical advice sprinkled throughout.

In choosing Damson Plum Crumble to share with you, I have gone for one of the simpler recipes, which is perfect to bake this time of year when the plums and apples are ripe and falling from the trees. There isn’t a great deal of butter in this recipe, but it is absolutely an essential ingredient, and I think Olivia has created the perfect crumble topping: I adored it and will be using it for all my future crumbles. Cardamom is one of my favourite spices, and I also really enjoyed the addition of chopped hazelnuts. Because I had so many damson plums, I doubled the amount of fruit when making the recipe (I have given the original recipe weights below, though!), and so doubled the amount of sugar used too (damsons are generally sourer than larger plums, so do note Olivia’s direction to taste the fruit once stewed and add sugar accordingly). It seemed a dreadful waste not to use the jewel-bright sauce leftover from stewing the fruit, so I added some sugar (again, to taste) and boiled the sauce to reduce it, then poured it into a jug to serve with the crumble. It was delicious and would also be very nice served with pancakes or over ice-cream.

Damson Plum Crumble Recipe

Makes: enough for six

Hands on time: 15 minutes

Total time: 1 hr and 15 minutes

Ingredients

For the fruit:

600g fresh damsons (unstoned weight)

50 ml water

2 large eating apples

1 tablespoon light soft brown sugar (optional)

For the crumble:

100g salted butter, cold

125g plain flour

60g light soft brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

30g oats

30g chopped hazelnuts (optional)

1 tablespoon Demerara sugar

Method:

1/ Prepare the fruit. Place the unstoned damsons in a pan with 50ml of water, and cook over a low heat until the damsons soften, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, and leave until cool enough to handle.

2/ Once the damsons are no longer scalding, you can squidge them with your hands to release the stones. Discard the stones (be vigilant, they're small and slippery) and drain off any liquid that has collected. Taste the damsons, you may wish to add the brown sugar, depending on sweetness.

3/ Preheat the oven to 200C. Peel and core the apples, and cut them into slices about 2.5cm thick. Put them into the bottom of a large ovenproof dish, add the stewed damsons and gently mix together.

4/ Make the crumble. In a large bowl, rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips, until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir the brown sugar through the mix, followed by the cardamom, oats and hazelnuts, if using. Drizzle a tablespoon of water into the mixture and stir until some of the mixture slightly clumps together.

5/ Spoon the crumble topping evenly over the fruit, and sprinkle the Demerara sugar over the top.

6/ Bake for 35 minutes, until the topping is golden and the fruit is bubbling up at the edges. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then serve warm with custard or thick cream.

Get your copy of Butter: A Celebration here. Follow Olivia Potts on Twitter and Instagram for more fabulous food inspiration.

*Note: affiliate links used for Blackwells.