TWD - Tropical Crumble

 Do you sometimes like to dream that you are drifting away on calm seas on a luxury yacht, stretched out on a banana lounge, shading umbrella overhead, with a tall cool glass of something soothing, while the sun shines in the blue sky?  Me too, especially in winter.

This week's Tuesday with Dorie helped me to dream of a tropical paradise.  It was Tropical Crumble, and it was my pick - so exciting! 

This crumble was non-traditional in that the crumble was quite buttery and soft, punctuated only by chopped nuts.  When someone says "crumble", I usually think of a crisp, crunchy topping.  However, that didn't stop me from liking this dessert - beneath that topping lurked caramelised bananas and mango, and in my case, it was atop a pastry base so that I could serve it like a slice.  It was very tasty!

To make your own Tropical Crumble, you will need:

Filling:

1/4 stick (4 tablespoons/55g) unsalted butter

2 1/2 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 firm, ripe mangoes, peeled, pitted and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

(I used drained, canned mango)

4 firm, ripe bananas, cut into 1/2 slices on the diagonal

1 teaspoon finely chopped peeled fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

 grated zest of 1/4 lime (I used lemon zest)

Crumble:

1 stick (8 tablespoons/115g) unsalted, room temperature butter

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons plain (all purpose) flour

1/2 cup chopped pecans

For the filling:

Melt the butter in a frypan over high heat.  Sprinkle the sugar over the butter, and once it bubbles, add the mango cubes and cook for 2 minutes without stirring.  Flip the mango cubes over with a spatula, then add the banana to the pan and cook for a further 3 minutes, turning the banana half way through so that the fruit becomes browned on all sides, but does not lose its shape.

Turn the cooked fruit out into a heat proof bowl.  Stir in the fresh and ground ginger and the citrus zest.  Set aside.

For the crumble:

Put the butter into a food processor and process until smooth.  Add the brown sugar and salt, and process until smooth.  Transfer the mixture to a bowl and stir in the flour and pecans with a rubber spatula.  Spread the mixture out over a piece of parchment or wax paper, and freeze for 20 minutes.

To assemble and bake:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F/200 degrees Celsius.

Butter a 9" pie pan and place it on a baking sheet.  (I buttered an 11" x 7" slice tray and lined it with shortcrust pastry before placing on the baking sheet.)

Spoon the fruit with its liquid into  the pie pan (or over the pastry crust).  Remove the crumble from the freezer, and break it into topping-size, irregular pieces, and scatter these over the top of the fruit.  Put the fruit crumble into the oven and immediately lower the temperature to 350 degrees F/180 degrees Celsius.  Bake the crumble for 35 minutes or until it is golden on top and the fruit is bubbling.  Place the crumble in its pan on a wire rack to cool.

Serve warm or at room temperature - I recommend with a big dollop of vanilla icecream.

Hope you enjoyed this week's TWD recipe.  To see how the other TWD bakers fared with this crumble, visit the LYL section of the TWD website for this week.