Greengage and Hazelnut crumble

Greengages are often a forgotten stonefruit, but they're so tasty and work amazingly well in this hazelnut crumble. It is lower in sugar than other crumble recipes because the nuts give it some natural sweetness and you use less butter too due to their healthy fat content. The toasted hazelnuts give it this delicious flavour and we sprinkle a pinch of cinnamon over the top to give the dessert some subtle warmth.

A crumble is a great sharing dessert, one to pop in the oven whilst everyone is eating their main course and bring out still warm and ready to be devoured. I am a huge, huge fan of anything that mixes different temperatures and textures, so warm with cold, crunchy with smooth. And this greengage and hazelnut crumble ticks all those boxes with a crunchy nut crumble topping and hot cooked fruit underneath paired with scoops of vanilla ice cream (and lashings of cream too, of course).

You can make the hazelnut crumble mixture in advance so if you're looking for easy dinner party desserts, this is a good one. Make the crumble topping whilst toasting hazelnuts, mix it all together and put it in a ziplock bag in the fridge to store until you want to assemble, bake and eat.

I love fruit crumble in colder weather so this is a perfect dessert for autumn and winter. You can make it with any stonefruit, so try plums or apricots instead if you can't find greengages.

I made this dessert on my mother's birthday when I designed a whole menu, so if you're looking to create a special occasion too we started with these parmesan biscuits with champagne and then moved on to this salmon en croute.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• How to peel hazelnuts
• Substitutions and Variations
• Equipment
• Storage
• Top tip
• Greengage and hazelnut crumble

Ingredients

• Greengages
• Wholemeal flour
• Golden caster sugar
• Unsalted butter
• Hazelnuts
• Cinnamon

See the recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180 C / 375 F

Remove the stones from the greengages by slicing them in half along the natural seam/indentation you'll see on their skin. Then, using a sharp knife, carefully cut around the stone to get it out. Don't worry too much about them looking neat...they are all going to cook into a pile of warm, sticky fruity mess under your crumble anyway.

Place them in the bottom of a buttered ovenproof dish, skin side down.

Make the nut crumble topping by first toasting hazelnuts on a shallow tray in the oven for 10 minutes. Allow them to cool for 5 minutes, and then remove the skin from the hazelnuts.

How to peel hazelnuts

Here's my top tip for peeling hazelnuts! Wash and dry your hands but leave them slightly damp. Now take the hazelnuts in your hands and rub them around, the skins will stick to your hands and come straight off! Easy.

On a chopping board, use a knife to roughly chop the hazelnuts. I like a crunchy, chunky nut crumble so I leave mine pretty big, but this is up to you.

Now make your hazelnut crumble topping by blending the butter and the flour together, and then slowly adding the sugar. Don't blend it for too long as we don't want to overwork it.

Mix in the nuts and spread over the top of the greengages. Sprinkle over some cinnamon and a bit of extra sugar and bake for 30 minutes. You'll know it's done when the greengages are bubbling up through the crumble at the sides and the nut crumble is a light warm brown on the top.

Serve with vanilla ice cream and lashings of cream.

Hint: The fruit will be very, very hot when it is just out of the oven, so give it five minutes before eating to avoiding scalding your guests.

Substitutions and Variations

Here are a few ways you can change up this hazelnut crumble recipe to suit you.

• Fruit - instead of greengages you could try this with plums or apricots
• Nuts - Not a hazelnut fan? Why not experinment with other nuts like pecans
• Gluten free - Use gluten free flour to make this dish suit you if you are intolerant.

Equipment

I make my crumble in a food processor as it blends the flour and butter together really well, but you can do it in a mixing bowl and use your fingers instead if you prefer.

For this quantity, I used an ovenproof dish roughly 35cm by 25cm.

Storage

You can make the crumble topping in advance and store it in a ziplock bag in the fridge for 2-3 days before assembling. It is better to do it this way than assemble the whole crumble and store it before baking as it can go soggy. Any leftovers can be stored in the fridge for 2-3 days and reheated.

You can freeze any leftovers too!

Top tip

Use good quality butter, preferably grass-fed and organic and definitely not the spreadable stuff.