What's wrong with my crumble topping?

[IHeartKingThistle]

I'm following the recipe, I'm using half porridge oats and half wholemeal flour, I'm rubbing in the fat. It TASTES nice but it is still very....crumbly after cooking - still like individual grains rather than a crumbly crust. how do I get the underneath of the crumble topping to do that chewy thing my nan did? HOW?

how much butter/marg did you use? I know recipes tend to use half fat to flour, but I think you get a better crumble topping with more butter/marg, especially with wholemeal flour and porridge oats.

If you don't want to increase the fat, then you can sprinkle a tiny bit of water over the mix and rub in to make bigger "crumbles"

you've added marg and sugar i guess? maybe you haven't put it on thick enough?

Is there enough liquid in whatever you are using underneath? And a decent amount of sugar, as dreaming says?

Brown sugar, I reckon. That should give you that chewiness you're after.

You need more butter/marg.

Before I learnt the half fat to flour rule I would make it by eye, and once I used so much butter the topping became a kind of cobbler.

My family said it was the nicest Id made :o

Oh thanks for the replies!

Right. Going to try more fat. Will report back.

I discovered a brilliant crumble recipe last weekend. It was an experiment to make a crumble without sugar and we were all pleasantly surprised by the result. It is chewy and crunchy all at the same time! Anyway (!!), I blogged it here: Pear Crumble
I also think that using cold butter is important (or is that just for pastry making). Happy crumble making and eating!

Result! Thanks so much - my Delia recipe was 3oz fat to 8oz flour so the extra ounce swung it! Having said that, DD said she prefers it the old way

yyto more butter, and biscuit crumbs too!

We stopped at the Deans shortbread factory once, and in their shop they sell bags of crumbs....me and my ma were intrigued and asked what people used them for. We could only think of cheesecake bases and for some reason decided that Huntly was not a cheesecake hot spot. Annny-ways the shop lady said that a handful or so in a crumble mix would be perfection

and she was right! :D

There is a trick to making crumble topping that makes it so simple and quick too, I nicked the idea of the M&S crumble mix. You melt the butter and then simply stir in the dry ingredients!!! No rubbing in required!!!!
I find it is really important to use Demerara sugar over caster too, adds a better flavour texture! Good luck!

I am also generous when weighing out the butter too!

catsmama was it shortbread crumbs then! I would love to try that!