Here at Greensleeves, we love blackberry season! Whether you harvest a crop from the bottom of your garden or love blackberrying in the lanes around where you live, you’ll be looking for ways to use all those delicious berries.
We’ve chatted to the team at Greensleeves and pulled together some of our favourite tried and tested blackberry recipes! If you have loads of blackberries, why not put them into the freezer so you can enjoy these delicious recipes throughout the year. Skip to your favourite by clicking the links below or scroll through to view them all.
Grandma’s blackberry and apple crumble | Blackberry ice cream | Blackberry jam doughnuts
Grandma’s Blackberry and Apple Crumble
Apple crumble is an autumn classic, but adding in a handful of fresh blackberries makes it even better (if you can believe it)! Try this mouth-watering version of blackberry and apple crumble that’s been passed down through generations.
Serves 6
Ingredients:
- 2 cooking apples (eg. Bramley)
- 3 eating apples (Braeburn are great)
- 200g blackberries
- 75g brown sugar
- 1tsp cinnamon
- 1tsp mixed spice
For the crumble:
- 150g Plain Flour
- 50g Oats
- 120g brown sugar
- Grated nutmeg
- 180g unsalted butter (cold)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C (gas mark 3).
- Mix the sugar and spices for the fruit mixture into a bowl.
- Core, peel and cut the apples into chunky pieces — varying the sizes helps to vary the texture — and place them in a medium sized crumble dish.
- Sprinkle half the sugar-spice mix over the apples and mix them around.
- Add the blackberries and pour over the rest of the sugar mix. Make sure all the fruit is coated and mixed well together.
- Make the crumble topping by mixing the flour and oats together in a bowl with a bit of grated nutmeg. Stir in the sugar.
- Cut the butter into small cubes and rub into the mixture with your fingertips to form a breadcrumb like texture. When it’s done, the mixture should look more yellow.
- Lay the crumble mixture over the fruit so it covers it completely.
- Bake in the oven for about 40 mins (making sure it doesn’t burn on top!)
- Serve with hot custard or vanilla ice cream.
Blackberry Ice Cream
Difficulty: Easy
This blackberry ice cream is easy to make and tastes amazing! If you want to make it even more special, serve it up with some shortbread and sprinkle some fresh blackberries on top.
Ingredients:
700g Blackberries
500ml Double Cream
1 Can Condensed Milk (396g)
100g Sugar
2tsp Vanilla Extract
Method:
- Puree the blackberries by putting them in a blender. You can push them through a sieve to remove the seeds and pulp — this makes for creamier ice cream without any bits!
- Add the blackberry puree to a saucepan with the sugar and heat on medium until it’s thickened slightly. Allow it to cool.
- In a large bowl, beat the cream until it’s whipped into stiff peaks using an electric whisk. Add the condensed milk, mixing with the whisk on slow.
- Add the vanilla extract and turn the speed back up to high until the mixture is thick.
- Add the cooled puree and mix well.
- Transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze. It will likely take at least 4 hours until it’s completely frozen, but it might be longer.
- Enjoy!
Blackberry Jam Doughnuts
Difficulty: Harder
These doughnuts take a little more effort to make than the other two recipes, but they’re well worth it. Sweet, soft and delicious, they’re great served immediately after cooking. To make them even more special, you could add some custard into the doughnut alongside the jam!
Makes 10 doughnuts
Ingredients:
For the dough:
300g strong white flour
1 sachet of fast action yeast (should be about a tablespoon)
1 egg (whisked)
50g butter (melted)
150ml semi-skimmed or whole milk
1tbsp of sugar, plus extra for coating
Vegetable oil for deep-frying
For the jam:
250g sugar (try to get jam sugar, you should be able to find it at most large supermarkets)
500g blackberries
Method
- Start by making the dough. In a pan, heat the milk so it’s warm but not hot. Add the yeast to about 40ml of the warm milk with a teaspoon of the sugar.
- In a bowl, add sieved flour with a large pinch of salt and the rest of the sugar. Pour the yeast mixture on top with the rest of the warm milk, the melted butter and the whisked egg.
- Mix this into a dough and tip it onto a floured surface. Knead it for 5-10 minutes.
- Put it into a bowl and cover to allow it to prove. It will take 45 mins – 1 hour to double in size.
- In the meantime, make the jam filling. Put a small plate into the freezer (this will help you test when the jam is done) and warm the sugar on a very low heat in a large saucepan just for a few minutes. Be extremely careful not to let it burn.
- Add the blackberries and cook them until they soften, releasing their juice. Then turn up the heat and bring the mixture to the boil.
- Keep stirring the mixture gently and skim off any scum etc that rises to the surface. It will need to boil for approximately 8 minutes. To check when it’s done, spoon a tiny amount of jam onto the plate from the freezer. If it forms a skin that wrinkles up when you touch it or run a finger through it, then you know that it’s done.
- While the jam cools slightly, finish making the doughnuts: knock back the risen dough then divide it into 10, rolling gently into balls. Space them out on a lightly oiled baking tray and cover to let them rise for another 30 mins. Be sure they’re not going to touch as they rise.
- Use a deep-fat fryer if you have one, but otherwise fill a deep saucepan with about two-thirds oil and heat it to 180 degrees C. You want a small piece of bread to turn golden in a few seconds.
- Layer some kitchen roll on a large plate and put some sugar on another large plate. Fry the doughnuts two at a time for about a minute on each side. They should turn a lovely golden colour. Use a slotted spoon to take them out of the oil — allow them to drip for a few seconds to remove excess oil and then put them on the paper towels. Roll them carefully to remove the oil.
- As soon as the kitchen roll has absorbed the excess oil, put them on the other plate and roll them in the sugar. It’s important to do this while they’re still hot so the sugar sticks.
- Use a piping bag (or if you have one, a jam syringe!) to fill the doughnuts. It can help to make a small cut in the top of the doughnut to allow you to insert the piping bag.
- Eat immediately — they’re nicest on the same day you’ve made them!
