This is the moment to celebrate all the summer fruits, to catch them while they are at their very best. And this is a delicious and very easy treat.
First of all make the frangipane by beating together 80g of butter and 80g of caster sugar until creamy. It’s best to do this with a food mixer. Keep going until you have a light and creamy mixture.
Break an egg into a small bowl, beat it with a fork, then add this to the butter and sugar mixture, beating all the while. After a minute or so, add a few drops of vanilla extract.
Next, stir in 80g of ground almonds and 50g of sifted plain flour.
Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4.
Slice 2 large croissants in half from point to point. Place all 4 halves, cut side up, on a baking sheet. If there is any doughy middle, tear it carefully out and discard it.
Fill each hollow with some of the frangipane mixture, then push about 6 or so blackberries into each half of the cut croissant, depending on the size of the fruit – and the size of your croissant.
Place them in the preheated oven and bake for about 20 minutes until the frangipane is risen and slightly cracked on the surface. A fall of sifted icing sugar on top of each is rather lovely.
A serrated bread knife is the most effective tool for cutting a croissant in half.
Blackberries are just one of the many suitable fruits to press into your frangipan. Halved and stoned cherries, raspberries, blackcurrants and gooseberries are ravishing alternatives.
Gilding the lily, but a little cream would be glorious here to mop up the flakes of crisp croissant.
Once made, the frangipane mixture will last for several days in the fridge.
Follow Nigel on Instagram @NigelSlater
