A crumble is a British dessert in which raw fruit is topped with a crumbly pastry mixture and baked. Full of purple fruit, this recipe provides health enhancing flovonoids, phytochemicals, and antioxidants. The fruit also provide dietary fiber, vitamins A and C while the almonds provide vitamin E, good for eye health.

What you'll need to serve 6 to 8:
2 pounds plums, halved, pitted, sliced (about 5 cups)
½ pint blackberries (about 1 cup)
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¾ cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup packed almond paste (also known as marzipan)
½ cup old-fashioned oats
1 ½ sticks (12 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
½ cup slivered almonds

What you'll do:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 x9 x2-inch pan. Set aside.

In a large bowl, gently toss the plum slices, blackberries, vanilla and sugar. Set aside.

Using a food processor with the steel blade, pulse the flour, cinnamon, sugar, and almond paste until the almond paste is finely ground. Add the oats and pulse a few times just to mix in. Add the cold butter pieces and blend, pulsing on and off, until coarse crumbs form. Place mixture in a bowl and mix in the slivered almonds.

Evenly spread about 1/3 of the crumble mixture on the bottom of the pan. Top with the plum-blackberry mixture. Sprinkle the remaining crumble evenly on top.

Place baking pan on a baking sheet lined with foil and bake for about 35-40 minutes, or until the filling is bubbly and the crumble has browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes. Enjoy hot, at room temperature, or even cold.

Thoughts and variations:
It an be served alone or with whipped cream, crème fraiche or ice cream. Think of the possibilities for other seasonal fruit and fruit combinations. Play with spice flavorings in the crumble. Switch out some of the flour or oats with flax meal. Use all flour instead of oats. You can use the crumble mixture over single-crust pies for a streusel effect.