Nigella Lawson's 'crumble of dreams' needs one 'obligatory' treat with it

As the colder months arrive, sometimes there's nothing nicer than indulging in a hearty warm dessert - and Nigella Lawson has shared her ultimate 'crumble of dreams'.

To help warm us up, and enjoy a littlesweet treat after dinner, why not try out Nigella's favourite go-to dessert to impress your diners - but she says there is one 'obligatory' item with it that's "not optional".

"This is nothing short of alchemy: you take the vilest, crunchiest supermarket strawberries, top them with an almondy, buttery rubble, bake and turn them on a cold day into the taste of English summer," the chef told BBC, and added: "Naturally, serve with lashings of cream: I regard this is as obligatory, not optional."

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Nigella said the crumble can also be assembled a day ahead, for those planning in advance, just cover with cling film and store in the fridge until needed. She also said the unbaked crumble can be frozen, wrapped in a double layer of cling film and aluminium foil, for up to 3 months. Just simply defrost for 24 hours in the fridge.

So to make Nigella's dreamy dish, the recipe, asshared by BBC is below:

Ingredients For the filling

• 500g/1lb 2oz strawberries, hulled
• 50g/2oz caster sugar
• 25g/1oz ground almonds
• 4 tsp vanilla extract

For the topping

• 110g/4oz plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 75g/3oz cold butter, diced
• 100g/3½oz flaked almonds
• 75g/3oz demerara sugar
• double cream, to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Put the hulled strawberries into your pie dish (I use a round one) and sprinkle over the sugar, almonds and vanilla extract. Give the dish a good shake or two to mix the ingredients.

Now for the crumble topping: put the flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl and rub in the cold, diced butter between thumb and fingers (or in a freestanding mixer or food processor). When you’ve finished, it should resemble rough, pale oatmeal.

Stir in the flaked almonds and demerara sugar with a fork.

Tip the topping over the strawberry filling, covering the strawberries in an even layer and pressing the topping in a little at the edges of the dish.

Set the dish on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 30 minutes, by which time the crumble topping will have darkened to a pale gold and some pink-red juices will be seeping and bubbling out at the edges.

Leave to stand for 10 minutes before serving, and be sure to put a jug of chilled double cream on the table alongside.

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