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Meliz Berg’s spiced fruit baklava crumble

By: Meliz Berg

Published: 9 Jul 24
Updated: 13 Jul 24

Meliz Berg’s spiced fruit baklava crumble

Hands up who wants to try Meliz Berg’s baklava crumble? Cook, food writer and best-selling author Meliz is an authority on Turkish Cypriot cuisine, as well as a genius at developing crowdpleasing recipes that don’t take hours to make. This spiced fruit baklava crumble, from her latest cookbook Dinner Tonight, is a great example. Make it for friends and delight in their smiles when you bring it to the table.

Meliz says: “This has become my ‘I’ll bring dessert’ dessert. I love how the tartness of baked fruits can cut through the sweetness of a sponge, tart or crumble. However, I always feel a little hard done by with regular crumbles, as the fruit stews at the bottom rather than caramelising resplendently, like the topping, say, of a tarte tatin. So, I’ve flipped this crumble over and infused it with the mesmerising flavours, scents and textures of a nutty baklava. I’ve given you tips to make it gluten-free and plant-based too.”

Recipe from Dinner Tonight by Meliz Berg (Ebury Press £22). Photography by Luke J Albert.

Easy
July 2024

Test kitchen approved

Serves 8
Hands-on time 15 minutes, cooking time 40–45 minutes (plus cooling)

Recipe from Dinner Tonight by Meliz Berg (Ebury Press £22). Photography by Luke J Albert.

Nutrition: per serving

Calories: 434kcals
Fat: 22g (11g saturated)
Protein: 5.9g
Carbohydrates: 51g (28g sugars)
Fibre: 3.4g

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Ingredients

For the crumble

200g plain flour (or 200g gluten-free plain flour and ¼ tsp xanthan gum)
½ tsp baking powder (gluten-free if needed)
50g rolled jumbo oats (gluten-free if needed)
60g shelled pistachios
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
150g unsalted butter (or plant-based equivalent), chilled and chopped
50g soft dark brown sugar

For the syrup

100g caster sugar
2 tbsp runny honey or agave syrup
1 tsp orange blossom water
Juice ½ large orange
½ cinnamon stick
3 cloves

For the topping

400g ripe peaches and/or plums, stoned and cut into 1cm thick slices
½ tsp ground cinnamon
Finely grated zest 1 large orange, plus half its juice
1 tsp demerara sugar
25g shelled pistachios, whizzed in a food processor, plus extra to finish
Custard or cream to serve (optional)

Specialist kit

23cm round pie dish

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Method

Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6 and line the pie dish with baking paper.
Add all the crumble ingredients to a food processor and pulse slowly until the butter starts to form large crumbs but hasn’t been ground down to a powder. Pour the crumble mixture into the lined pie dish and press it down using your hands so that the top is completely flat. Bake in the oven on the middle rack for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, add all the syrup ingredients to a small saucepan and put over a medium-high heat. Once it starts to boil, leave it on a high simmer for 10-15 minutes until the mixture has thickened and reduced by half, then turn off the heat.

Mix together the fruit slices, cinnamon, orange zest and orange juice in a bowl.
Take the crumble out of the oven and scrape the flattened top a little with a fork so that the topping starts to resemble a crumble. Pop it back in the oven for another 5 minutes until the top starts to look a little crunchier. Carefully take the dish out again, arrange the fruit slices evenly over the crumble, then scrape out any of the juicy residue left in the bowl and onto the fruit. Using a spoon, evenly pour the syrup over the fruit and crumble. Sprinkle over the demerara sugar and pop the dish back onto the middle rack of the oven. Bake for another 20-25 minutes or until the fruit has softened but is still tender and the tops have ever so slightly caramelised.
Take the dish out of the oven, sprinkle over the whizzed pistachios so they stick to the fruit, then leave to cool for at least 30 minutes before you try to remove it from the dish. Once cooled but still a little warm, gently lift the crumble out of the dish using the paper to help you onto a large flat plate, carefully easing the paper out from underneath as you do so. Serve with cream or custard (if you like) and an extra sprinkling of ground pistachios.