It took every ounce of my being to wait for this to cool down so I could take some photos of it. After trying it both hot and cold, my recommendation is to eat it immediately, scooped straight out of the dish it was cooked in, covered with ice cream or runny cream. Yoghurt would also be delicious if you're serving it for afternoon tea. This is so easy to make and just so delicious, I don't want to oversell it, but it is just the perfect balance of tart and sweet and crispy buttery-ness. If rhubarb isn't in season, you could make this with berries or apple as well. If you're using frozen berries, make sure to thaw them really well and toss in a tablespoon of flour first, to get rid of any excess water, which will prevent the crisp going soggy. Mmmmm I'm off for another slice.
Makes 8 slices (or 4-6 dessert portions in my house) 125g butter 300g rhubarb (or fruit of your choice) 50g caster sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract (or if you're using apples, 1 tsp cinnamon) 50g brown sugar 50g caster sugar 50g ground almonds 150g plain flour Preheat oven to 180°C. If this is for a dessert and you are just going to scoop out your portions into a bowl, set aside a baking dish (about 15-20cm). If you want to present it like a cake, you will need to line the bottom and sides of a cake tin about 18cm in diameter, a spring-form pan would work best here, but don't worry if you haven't got one. Cut up butter into 1cm cubes and place in the freezer. If you don't have a food processor, don't cube your butter, just pop it in the freezer. Cut rhubarb into 2cm pieces and toss in a bowl with first measure of caster sugar and vanilla. In a large bowl, place brown sugar, remaining caster sugar, almonds and flour and stir to combine. Remove butter from fridge and place in your food processor along with all dry ingredients. Blend to a fine crumb. If you don't have a food processor, grate your cold butter into the dry ingredients and combine with your hands. Work very quickly as you don't want the butter to warm up. Place half the crumb mixture into the bottom of your dish, pressing down into an even layer so there are no holes. Place rhubarb mixture on top of your crumb, spreading in an even layer. Then top with the remaining crumb mixture, pressing down slightly and making sure all the fruit is covered. Bake for 1 hour, until golden. For dessert, serve immediately with ice cream or cream. For afternoon tea, allow to cool so you can remove it from the cake tin (use spring form tin or invert it onto another plate) and serve with whip cream or yoghurt.