Plum Duffed It!

We were given some locally grown plums some of which I promptly stewed with a Plum Crumble in mind. But I 'duffed' it! I have now had two attempts at the 'Crumble' and it seems that the harder I try the more success eludes me! I mean to say - how tricky can a Crumble actually be??? I can remember learning to make it for Form 2 (Year 8) cooking for heaven's sakes!

The first attempt failed to crisp and crumble - in fact the topping looked more like buttery porridge! It tasted OK - well we ate it anyway... with milk... like you would with porridge! The second attempt was crisper I guess but the dry, dusty patches let the overall thing down big time. I am not happy! I consider myself a reasonably competent cook and baker of puddings and yet here I find myself stumbling over the basics!

Since we were going to be looking after three darling children for about a week while their parents were overseas I decided to get the heads up from the Aunty who had been looking after them before us. I asked her, 'Any tips... like what do they like to eat for example?' She said, 'Oh, they like basic food... you know stewed fruit.. Crumble!!!' 'Mmmm...' I thought to myself - 'I don't know if they'll be getting any Crumble out of this Aunty!!!' I could probably manage an old fashioned Fruit Sponge Pudding I thought to myself. Turns out that the darling children arrived in time to get a taste of 'Plum Crumble Version Two'. They assured me it was, 'Really Yum!' and that I could make it for them again if I liked!!! Mmmm perhaps it was a little improved by a second spell in the oven to reheat it!!! They also told me that their Dad makes the best crumble! Darling children - I am happy on this matter to be upstaged by 'at home/house Dad' who does a brilliant job! I admit defeat on the Crumble front!

Is there anyone out there with a 'never fail' working Crumble recipe - as in one that you have made recently and it turned out fantastic! I'd love to have it and your tips for good crumble making to go with it!