I’m a firm believer in trying to use up store cupboard ingredients and this dessert was just that – using up a surplus of cooking apples, some sultanas, a bottle of Pedro Ximénez sherry and some ready made crumble mix I had in the freezer.
The latter is something I often have on standby. It’s easy to make and freezes well – meaning that you can double up the quantities and freeze any surplus. It can then be simply used to top some fruit and bake in the oven for a quick dessert.
Boozy apple and sultana crumble with PX.
I’m very lazy so I tend to make my crumble using a food processor but it can just as easily be made by hand. And if you have little people around, it’s great to get them involved.
- 120g self raising flour
- 90g cold butter, diced
- 6 tablespoons light muscavado sugar (if you don't have any of this sugar, then just use whatever you have. A mix of sugars also works)
- Blitz the flour and sugar in a food processor until you have large breadcrumbs.
- Stir in the sugar.
- Keep the mixture in the fridge until required. Alternatively keep any excess mixture in an air-tight container and store in the freezer and use to top any fruit for a quick, easy dessert.
Pedro Ximénez (also known as PX) is the name of a white Spanish wine grape variety grown in several Spanish wine regions but most notably in the Denominacion de Origen (DO) of Montilla-Moriles.
Pedro Ximenez is a beautiful, sweet sherry
It is used to produce an intensely sweet, dark, dessert sherry. It is made by drying the grapes under the hot sun, concentrating the sweetness, which are then used to create a thick, black liquid with a strong taste of raisins and molasses that is fortified and aged in solera. It tastes like Christmas in a bottle.
I was once given a wonderful bottle of this drink as a birthday present, along with a fantastic book on cooking with sherry. One of the suggested ways to use, other than drinking, is to soak some sultanas in the sherry and then serve this along side some vanilla ice-cream. Try it. You won’t be disappointed.
Once again, another easy dessert. In fact, I served this as my Christmas pudding last year as I’m not a huge fan of the traditional Christmas pudding.
- 2 Bramley apples
- 2 TBS sultanas
- 2 TBS Pedro Ximinez sherry
- 1 TBS demerara sugar
- Crumble mix (see above)
- In a small bowl, soak the sultanas in the Pedro Ximinez sherry for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile peel and core the apples.
- Cut each apple into quarters and then into 1 cm cubes.
- Place some apple cubes in the bottom of 4 large ramekins or ovenware dishes.
- Sprinkle with demerara sugar.
Store cupboard ingredients make the simplest of desserts
- Divide the PX soaked sultanas between the ramekins.
Diced Bramley apple with PX soaked sultanas
- Top with some more apple.
- Finally top with some crumble mix and bake at 190C for 25-30 mins
Boozy apple and sultana crumble with PX - serve with vanilla custard
Enjoy. I love serving this with some vanilla custard or some quality shop-bought ice-cream.
