It had never occurred to me to use strawberries in a crumble before. I regularly make apple or blackberry and apple crumbles, occasionally a pear crumble, and I've even made a peach crumble (which was delicious, by the way), but I've never made one with summer berries.

That was until I visited Café René in Gloucester recently (review coming soon!) and the sweet, satisfying strawberry and apple crumble inspired me to make my own version at home.

My apple tree produced fruit a lot earlier than usual this year, probably because of the long period of hot weather we've been experiencing recently. This gave me the perfect excuse to pair my garden's apples with the remainder of a punnet of strawberries my son and I picked at a local Pick Your Own farm.

My husband asked me to ensure there was a good ratio of crumble to fruit filling, so I did a bit more than usual, much to his delight. You can reduce the ingredient portions if you prefer more fruit than filling.

The following recipe will either make one large crumble to feed 8-10 people, or you can do what I did and fill multiple smaller dishes so you have extra portions for the freezer for another day. You can freeze the crumbles either before or after baking, just make sure to defrost them thoroughly before cooking or reheating on the day you intend to eat them.

Be prepared to adjust the amount of sugar you use depending on how tart your apples are, remembering that the strawberries will add some sweetness, too. It's best to start with a smaller amount and add more as you taste, rather than making it too sweet.

If you're reading this when strawberries are out of season, grab a bag of frozen strawberries from your local shop and use those instead. Just allow them to thaw before adding them to the apples.

Ingredients:
8 medium cooking apples
400g ripe strawberries
300g granulated sugar
200g fridge-cold butter or dairy-free alternative
400g plain flour
100g porridge oats

Method:
1. Wash, peel and core the apples, then cut into small-medium chunks (about 2cm in size).

2. Put the apple in a pan and cook on the hob for around 15 minutes to soften them slightly.

3. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan.

4. Whilst the apple is cooking, make the crumble topping. Add the butter and flour to a bowl and rub the mixture together until it resembles large breadcrumbs.

5. Add the sugar and oats and mix well.

6. Once the apple has cooked down a bit, add 100g granulated sugar to sweeten. Stir and taste for tartness. Add more sugar if necessary.

7. Add the strawberries, stir and turn off the heat.

8. Add the fruit to your ovenproof dish(es) then spread the crumble topping evenly over the top.

9. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the top is golden brown and you can see the fruit starting to bubble up the side of the dish. If the topping starts to brown early, cover it with a loose sheet of tin foil for the remainder of the cooking time.

10. Serve with your choice of custard, cream or ice cream. Or, as my wonderful late Grampy would do, have all three!