Cherry crumble

Serves 4 - 6

Preparation: 10 minutes 
Cooking time:
30 - 40 minutes

Ingredients
For the crumble topping
 
80g butter 
110g sugar 
175g flour 
30g rolled oats 
30g ground almonds 

Filling 
450g frozen cherries (or fresh pitted and halved) 
50g sugar 
½ tbsp cornflour 
1 lemon, juiced 
1 tsp vanilla paste or extract 
75ml cherry brandy, water, brandy or kirsch 
1 cinnamon stick 
2 cloves 
15g butter 

Method
Preheat the oven to 180c. 

Make the filling by mixing the lemon juice and cornflour together in a small bowl. Get a pan big enough for your cherries.  Put the cherries, sugar, vanilla in and mix.  Add the alcohol (or water) and cornflour mix and stir.  Put the cinnamon stick, cloves and butter in the pan, put on a medium heat and cook until the sugar has melted and the juice is syrupy - this will be 5-10 minutes.  You know when this is done because the liquid changes to from cloudy to clear and goes very sticky.  Turn off the heat and leave to one side for a moment. 

While the cherries sit, make the topping. Rub together the flour and butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir through the rest of the crumble ingredients. 

Put the cherries either into a large heatproof dish or individual dishes. Put the crumble mix on top of the cherries and cook for 25-30 minutes until golden.