Banana Crumble

I had some bananas left over from baking the banana cake for the Cake Slice Baker's challenge this month so I decided to make a dessert with it. However I was undecided between a banana tarte tartin or a crumble. In the end I opted for the easier one instead which was a crumble. This is one really simple dessert to make and delicious when served warm with a scoop of cold vanilla ice-cream. If you hate washing up, you'll love this - I only needed one bowl to mix everything in it. Now this is what I call a "quick dessert". My husband said it was delicious and I think he was probably wishing that I had made extras.




Banana Crumble
(Serving for two)

Ingredients for the filing:

4 - 5 ripe and sweet bananas, sliced
2 Tbsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Zest of half an orange (optional)

Mix the above and set aside

Ingredients for the toping:

50g unsalted butter, softened
75g plain flour
Pinch of salt
40g light brown sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
20g rolled oats
20g flaked almonds, crushed lightly in your hands

Method:

1) Preheat the oven to 180C.

2) Place the banana mixture in 2 large ramekins.

3) To make the topping, lightly rub together the butter, flour and salt, and then stir in the sugar, oast and flaked almonds. Try not to over handle the mixture - the mixture needs to be fairly chunky and crumbly. (I added everything into one bowl and mixed it to a crumbly texture. It did not compromise the topping in any way)

4) Spoon the topping onto the bananas and sprinkle with a bit more brown sugar on top.

5) Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the topping is crisp and golden. The juices should start to bubble and ooze out in-between the topping by now. Serve slightly warm with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream, thickened cream or creme fraiche.