Ever versatile, this tasty little formula readily adapts to the contents of your stores. Fruit fresh, frozen or canned? All work well. No sour cream? Use mascarpone, cream cheese or Greek yoghurt, each will fit the bill. 

This recipe was given to me by Claire Thomson, of Five O'Clock Apron fame, following a retreat at Cadhay House. Claire is a chef, mum and awesome food writer and well worth digging out, if you haven't already, on her Instagram feed for her kitchen videos. 

Source

(Crust)

225g butter

200g brown sugar

180g oats

125g flour - self raising is great - or combine with rye for extra flavour

125g nuts - I used a combination of almonds and pecan, walnuts are good.

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cardamom

Pinch of salt

(Filling)

240g sour cream

150g caster sugar

30g flour

1 egg

300g fruit to scatter on base (I used frozen cherries, sliced apples are great, canned peaches delicious.)

Action

Set your oven to 180c and line a tray bake tin with baking parchment.

Beat together the Crust butter and sugar, using either a stand mixer or a wooden spoon.

Tip in the dry ingredients and beat to combine.

Transfer 2/3 of the mixture into your prepared bake tin and smooth out to form a cookie base. Load into the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes to set the crust.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling.

Beat the Filling sour cream, sugar, flour and egg together to form a smooth batter. Fold in your fruit of choice, chopped if needs be. 

Once the cookie base is ready, retrieve from the oven. Pour your filling ingredients over the base. Crumble the remaining dough ingredients over the top and into the oven it goes.

Bake for 35 -  40 minutes. Check after 20 minutes and cover the bake loosely with foil if it's catching. Allow to cool completely before diving in - this allows the filling to set and the crumble topping to gather it's crunch. 

Take with tea at 4pm in the company of loved ones and best china.

By Skype, if needs.