1kg (3lb) eating apples, such as Braeburns, peeled, cored and roughly chopped (see Oat crunch tips)
225g (8oz) fresh or frozen blackberries
25g (1oz) caster sugar
200g (7oz) mixed nuts, such as hazelnuts, pecan nuts or almonds, roughly chopped (see Oat crunch tips)
100g (31⁄2oz) porridge oats
25g (1oz) plain flour
100g (31⁄2oz) soft brown sugar
125g (4oz) butter
Directions
Step 1
Base-line a 20.5cm (8in) spring-release tin (see Oat crunch tips). Place the apples in a large saucepan with the blackberries, caster sugar and 150ml (1⁄4 pint) water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20-30min or until the apples are tender and most of the liquid has evaporated. Set aside.
Step 2
Place the nuts and porridge oats on a baking sheet and cook under a preheated grill until golden, stirring occasionally so that the oats don't burn. Combine the nuts, oats, flour and soft brown sugar in a large bowl. Melt the butter and add to the nut mixture, stirring well.
Step 3
Press half of the nut mixture into the base of the prepared tin. Spoon the fruit over then cover with the remaining nut mixture.
Step 4
Cook at 190°C (170°C fan) mark 5 for 20min or until golden and crisp. Leave in the tin to cool completely before turning out; serve.
Serve with vanilla ice cream or custard.
To freeze: Complete to the end of step 3, wrap and freeze.
To serve: Thaw overnight at cool room temperature. Complete the recipe.
If you prefer, you can replace the apples with pears, and the blackberries with blackcurrants or raspberries.
You can use any combination of nuts for the oat crunch. Try a mixture of walnuts, pistachios and hazelnuts.
Wrap foil around the loose-bottomed base of the tin before clipping it into position - this will make unmoulding easier once the pudding is cooked and ready to serve.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
