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| Wonderful at room temperature eaten by hand; even more luscious warm covered in custard or double cream |
Autumm is such a great time for English apples and pears and this twist on classic Oatmeal Date Bars makes good use of them.
The kitchen had a bag of wallet-friendly ripen-at-home pears; with lots of oatmeal in the cupboard and dairy and plant butter in the fridge, the result was these gorgeously fruity, individual crumble cups.
They can't truly be called healthy but there's an option for lower sugar. The flour is lower-gluten spelt, however, and the high proportion of oatmeal helps lower cholesterol and maintain good digestion. Fresh fruit, of course, adds lip-smacking goodness.
You could go 50-50 pear and apple or replace with all apples.
The recipe is easy; kids attacking homework would find the 20 minutes involved both relaxing and rewarding!
This can be made in a flat dish and cut into 16 servings or in a lined cupcake tin. These colourful little cups though, bought online, look very pretty and the little treats slip out easily.
1 cup/120gm/4.2oz rolled oats or Uber Granola (67 used English cup measures)
1 cup/142gm/ 5oz plain spelt or common wheat flour
1 pinch salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
light brown sugar: min generous half cup/100'ish g/3.55'ish oz - maximum 2/3 cup/127gm/5oz light brown sugar
3.8oz/110g dairy or plant butter, or a mix of both, softened
- Pour boiling water over cranberries, leave a minute, drain, cover with brandy.
- Prepare 9-10 faux metallic cupcake containers (from the net) -- 67's did not need greasing or lining; line yours with paper cupcake liners if you think they need it OR a muffin tin, well greased or lined
- If fat isn't soft, zap it in the microwave on med at 5 second intervals until the desired consistency OR pop it into a warm oven or air fryer on bake for half a minute, no more
- In a large bowl, blend dry ingred, breaking up any sugar lumps
- Add fat in small cubes; rub together as if you were making crumble until butter is the size of peas (this step can be done a few hours ahead or the night before) i
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350f/180c/gas4 OR set airfryer to bake to 350f/180c
- Peel pears, halve lengthways; core; cut each half into 6 lengthwise pieces; chop coarsely; rest on paper towels then stir vanilla through, and if using, spices
- Spread 2.5 tablespoons crumble mix in the baking cups, levelling and gently pressing down with a spoon
- Drain cranberries; add to pears, mix well, spreading a generous 1.5 tbsp as evenly as possible over the base; once that's done, divide any leftover fruit evenly between the cups
- Cover the fruit with the rest of the oats, to the edges
- Bake 20-25'ish mins in oven OR 20'ish minutes in air fryer until beautifully browned; watch carefully, they can go dark quickly
- Rest on a cooling rack
- To serve, upend and eat like a muffin/cake/bar with serviettes - it is crumbly(!!) OR - attack with a spoon.
- 'Very very nice and so pretty in their sweet little containers. These would be lovely warm from the oven with custard or double cream. A bit sweet for me; next time I will use the minimum amount of sugar.' Retired writer
- 'The cakes were tasty and not too sweet for me; the fruit was just right. The base was a bit crunchy but I really liked the whole thing.' 67 handyman
- 'I love sticky oatmealy-flapjack-type-sweets; the fruit makes them melt in the mouth.' Political agent
- Builder: 'Scrummy. I would pay £5.50 for this in a cafe.'
- 67goingon50 didn't use the spices this time but is looking forward to testing the spice mix which has been successfully used elsewhere
- Replace cranberries with raspberries? chopped plums? Or try dried cherries or apricots blanched in boiling water & drained
- The Blogger has not tested spelt flakes instead of oatmeal but they should work. You might have to add a touch more butter/margarine
- If you liked these you will also like the similarly fruity Pineapple Crumble Bars
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