Sometimes when you preparing a meal and simple dessert made with fresh fruit goes down a treat. One such dessert which is easy to make yet delicious is a traditional Fruit Crumble.

Use seasonal fruits from your garden or local market and don’t be afraid to mix more than one fruit together and experiment with the crumble topping by adding nuts, spices or even oats to add flavour and crunch. Other things to add are dried fruits like raisins and sultanas, oats, museli, branflakes, coconuts and variety of nuts.

Remember to use your cookery notebook so you can remember what you change so you have it for future reference when you guests tell you how much they enjoyed this version to a previous one.

For your fruit crumble you are going to need:100g flour (I like to mix 50g wholemeal and 50g of plain together), 50g brown sugar, 50g margarine or butter, 500g fruit of your choice.

Prepare your fruit, peel, chop and place in small amount of water 2 to 3 tablespoons in a saucepan with 25g sugar and bring to the boil before simering for 5 minutes. Place your fruit in a oven proof dish. Mix your crumble by rubbing in the fat (margarine or butter, I prefer butter), into the flour mix until mixture resembles breadcrumbs and add the other 25g sugar and stir. Now spoon this crumble mix over your fruit then bake in the oven at 190 c or gas 5 for 20 minutes until the crumble top is golden.

To serve some traditional puddings in this great generic ethos hells kitchen standard ovenware 5 piece red and white set is ideal with a range of different shapes and sizes for all the different recipes you will cook including lids.

Find another great traditional pudding recipe on my previous blog a mouthful of heaven and milking it.

Serve hot with custard, ice cream or cream. Tell me about your favourite traditional dessert recipe, another of my personal favourites has to be bread & butter pudding, whats yours?

I know we have all been talking about the British weather as we do and how odd the weather has been again this summer, but a change is in the air and there appears to be a bumper crop of blackberries on the hedgerow which started to change early this year due to the extremes hot & wet days we have been having.

Looking for a quick dessert to finish off our scrummy barbecue by the sea I couldn’t think of a better dessert than my Creamy Blackberry Fool, (you cab use other fruits if you have a favourite you want to substitute the blackberries for).

Stock up on your blackberries when they are at their peak and freeze them for use throughout the year as they will keep in the freezer for 6 months and make a wonderful fruit crumble or sauce to accompany meats etc.

For my Creamy blackberry fool your going to need: 450g blackberries, grated rind and juice of a lime, 284ml pot of double cream, 100g caster sugar and 300ml pot of greek style yogurt (or your homemade see my previous blog yogurt recipes depend on milk used   )

Start by palcing your cleaned blackberries in a bowl reserving a few for decoration. Sprinkle over the lime rind juice and sugar and leave to stand for at least 5 minutes for the sugar to dissolve and turn syrupy. Then using a wooden spoon roughtly crish your blackberries (again if you prefer a smoother consistency blend slightly). Put the cream in a chilled bowl again reserving a little for decoration and whip the cream into soft peaks then using a spatula stir in the greek yogurt and mix well. (Note that greek yogurt has the highest fat content so gives a creamier flavour however you can use creme fraiche or fromage frais as alternatives if you wish).

Now alternate layer the blackberries and the cream and yogurt mix into parfait glasses or tall glasses and top with reserved cream and fruit. You can also for another variation add a layer of crumbled chocolate muffins or cookies, add a little alcohol for a special dessert and top with drizzle caramel.

Whats your quick and easy seasonal dessert?? have you a variation on my fool dessert to share with us, then send it in. Our barbecue went great although a little chilly but the guests never noticed as the food kept on coming along with the wine. Tell me about your summer barbecues and parties.