Raspberry, Chocolate and Almond Crumble

This month's SweetPunch Challenge was to make a Pear, Chocolate and Almond Crumble. As pears are not a favorite at our household, I substituted it with raspberries. It was as appealing to the eye as it was tasty - with the bright red sauce oozing out from the crumble when out from the oven. It was a nice dessert to have on cold winter night. It was a dream dessert with the warmth of the raspberry sauce, the crunchiness of the crumble with almonds and the cold vanilla ice-cream to top.

Recipe Source - http://www.lochfyne.com/Recipes/Desserts/Pear-Crumble-with-Chocolate-Chunks-and-Hazelnuts

Ingredients

1kg (4-5) ripe pears, peeled, cored and chopped into 1cm pieces (Instead I used raspberries)
50g light brown soft sugar [ Can substitute with regular sugar]
Grated zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon (I didn't use this as raspberries are already juicy and is tart enough)
100g Swiss milk chocolate, roughly chopped
(As I used raspberries, I added 3 tbsp corn flour to thicken the raspberry sauce)
For the crumble:
100g plain flour [ You could substitute this with Whole wheat flour too]
50g butter, chilled and diced
50g light brown soft sugar
50g blanched almonds, lightly toasted in a dry pan and roughly chopped
Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Grease 6 ovenproof teacups or ramekins or a pie-dish.
In a medium bowl, mix together the raspberries (pears) , brown sugar, (lemon zest and juice), corn flour (if using raspberries) and half the chocolate. Divide the mixture between the teacups or ramekins, spooning over any juice.
To make the crumble, place the flour and butter in a medium bowl and, with your fingertips, rub together until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, almonds and remaining chocolate.
Spoon the crumble over the pears and press down lightly. Place the crumbles on a baking tray and bake for 30-40 minutes until golden and bubbling. Serve with a scoop of good vanilla ice-cream.