Tom Hunt’s apple ,maple and blackberry brown betty. Photograph: Tom Hunt/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Tom Hunt’s apple ,maple and blackberry brown betty. Photograph: Tom Hunt/The Guardian Waste not Dessert How to use stale bread to make a classic British pudding – recipe A thrifty and delicious crumble-like autumnal treat, a bit like a cobbler … or a buckle … or a grunt …
Tom Hunt Wed 14 Oct 2026 14.00 CEST Share Prefer the Guardian on Google W e have a family tradition of making our daughter a fruit pie of some sort for her first day of school each September. Last year, it was a simple apple pie, but we intend to make our way through the myriad heritage desserts, from crumbles and crisps to cobblers, buckles , pandowdys , grunts , slumps and sonkers . This year, we made a brown betty , a wonderful, crumble-like dessert made with stale bread. We kept things seasonal with apples and blackberries from the garden, but any combination of fruit works really. I sweetened this one with maple syrup, but use your sweetener of choice: each adds its own unique flavour.
A brown betty is easier to make than crumble; it’s also arguably even tastier, and it saves waste, too. I used three brown bread crusts left over from my wholemeal bread taste test , which, when stale, make perfect and flavourful breadcrumbs. The topping should be good enough to eat even before cooking – totally delicious, salty sweet with maple syrup, and crunchy with seeds – so taste and adjust as you see fit with more salt, sweetener, nuts and seeds. The addition of sea salt is a gamechanger that really brings out the sweetness of the maple syrup.
4 apples 100g blackberries 70-80g maple syrup , or brown sugar or another sweetener 1 tsp vanilla essence 50ml water , or brandy 75g butter , 50g of it melted, or extra-virgin olive oil 3 slices wholemeal bread (about 85g), torn into pieces 50g mixed seeds , or roughly chopped nuts (optional) ½ tsp sea salt 1 tsp ground cinnamon Yoghurt , or cream, ice-cream or custard, to serve
Cut the cored apples into rough cubes (compost the cores, or turn them into pectin jelly ) and toss with the blackberries, 40g of the maple syrup (or other sweetener), the vanilla essence and 50ml water (or brandy; the alcohol will cook off, and leave behind a lovely, complex flavour). Tip into a roughly 20cm-wide skillet or ovenproof dish, then dot with 25g of the butter (or extra-virgin olive oil).
Tear the bread into pieces, then pulse-blend into chunky breadcrumbs. Stir in the remaining 30-40g sweetener, the melted butter (or extra-virgin olive oil), the mixed seeds or nuts, if using, the sea salt and ground cinnamon. Scatter this mix over the top of the fruit, then bake in a 200C (180C)/390F/gas 6 oven for 40-45 minutes, until golden brown and bubbling.
Remove, leave to rest on the counter for 10 minutes, then serve with yoghurt, cream, ice-cream or custard.