Rhubarb Apple Brown Butter Caramel Crumble

Preheat oven to 180ºC (355ºF).

For the filling:
Place rhubarb in a medium saucepan with the prunes (left whole), water and half of the brown sugar. Bring to the boil and then simmer on a medium high heat for 15 minutes until rhubarb is very soft and mostly broken up. It should be quite saucy. Allow to cool for a few minutes and then remove the prunes.

In the meantime, peel, core and slice the apples into small pieces. Toss in a large bowl with lemon juice, remaining brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside for the flavours to come together.

Add rhubarb mixture to the apples and toss together gently.

For the caramel crumble:
Place butter in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer until it goes brown, stirring constantly, watching it closely so it doesn’t burn. Add brown sugar and vanilla essence and simmer until sugar dissolves. The sauce should thicken and become a bit like caramel. Stir in the cake flour and cornflour.

To assemble, pile the rhubarb and apple mixture into a 10-inch round baking dish. Top with the caramel crumble—I like to crumble it on with my fingers to get a nice even layer.

Bake for 10 minutes. Turn oven down to 160ºC (320ºF) and bake another 20 minutes until apples are tender and topping is golden brown.

Take the pie out of the oven and leave it to cool in the pie dish for 15 minutes before serving. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream and enjoy!

Note: The prunes sweeten the rhubarb a naturally and give it a delicious caramel flavour. You can leave them out if you like, but you might need to add a bit more sugar to counteract the tartness of the rhubarb.