Strawberry speculoos crumble slice
Who would've thought strawberries and speculoos spread, aka Biscoff spread, would complement one another?
This crumble slice combines the two in a sandwich of crumbly, buttery goodness.
This is perhaps a more approachable recipe than my other ones. Super simple, not many steps. Foolproof, I tell ya.
*not sponsored. @lotus hmu
This flavour combination was ~inspired~ by a visit to San Churro, where I shared a box with a pal (hello pal!) which had fresh strawberries in it, drenched in melted spec spread. Exactly like dipping strawberries in chocolate fondue, but spec spread instead of chocolate. I was honestly kind of skeptical of it at first, but turns out I had nothing to worry about because it was damn delicious.
Both the layers of crumble mixture are extra thick in comparison to the filling because who doesn't like a bit of extra crumble? I'm honestly mostly here for the crumble, but you could increase the filling if that's your... jam 😉
I would highly recommend making your own jam as per this recipe, as you can control the sweetness and the consistency.
You can see the difference in density between the base and the top crumble
I am aware that you can barely see the layer of spec spread, but I assure you it is there. I'll be totally honest, I didn't spread on as much as I intended, because I couldn't be bothered opening a new jar, which was silly anyway because I opened a new jar the next day for the photos. Follow the recipe to use the amount I had intended to use.
Honestly, the crumble sandwich formula is so foolproof, you could play around with the amounts of filling, as well as the types of filling. Peanut butter filling? Nutella filling? Maybe blueberry jam? I haven't tried to see if it works, but I bet a flavoured pastry cream would be delicious and creamy.
Next time, I would try crumbling some of the biscuits into the top crumble as well for that extra speculoos goodness. Give it a try if you'd like, and let me know how it goes!
This recipe uses both self-raising flour and plain flour, but feel free to use just plain flour with a teaspoon or so of baking powder.
Recipe
For the jam (makes approx. 330g/ 1c)
*Increase quantities if you want a thicker strawberry layer
INGREDIENTS:
- 420g fresh or frozen strawberries, chopped
- 70g castor sugar (1/3c)
- 10g lemon juice (optional)
METHOD:
1. Place all ingredients in a medium pot. Heat on medium heat until strawberries have softened and broken down, stirring occasionally. Heat until boiling, then allow it to simmer until it has thickened. It should plop off the spoon, not flow.
2. Leave aside to cool completely. You may speed up the process by putting it in the fridge and stirring occasionally. Don't worry that it's not suuuuper jammy, it will become jammier as it bakes in the oven.
For the crumble slice
INGREDIENTS:
- 145g plain flour
- 145g self-raising flour
- 120g sugar
- 250g butter, cubed
- 220 - 330g jam (2/3 - 1c) (recipe above)
- 130 - 170g speculoos spread/ Biscoff spread (1/2 - 2/3c), lightly warmed
METHOD:
1. Line a 20cm (8in) square pan or dish, or one of similar size, with baking paper. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Sift the flours and sugar in a large bowl. Rub the butter into the flour mixture, using either your fingers, a pastry cutter, or a food processor, until the mixture crumbly and no large pieces of butter or any floury patches remain.
3. Press roughly 1/2 - 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan, depending on how thick you want the top crumble layer to be. Make sure it is tightly packed as this is the base and you don't want the spread to pick up crumbs along the way when you spread it. Spread the spread over the base evenly. Spread the jam evenly over the spread.
4. With the remaining crumb mixture, compress a handful in your hand and break off chunks to sprinkle onto the jam. Repeat until you run out of crumb mixture.
5. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve warm, or leave it to cool before cutting into slices. Dust with icing sugar if desired.
Enjoy!
