Sweet & tangy Apple & Blackberry Crumble – made with less than 10 ingredients and cooked in one dish! Paleo + Vegan
I am hereby declaring it Blackberry Week here on A Saucy Kitchen!
Since I’m still up to my eyeballs over here with all the blackberries that Mike & I picked last week it only seems right. Not that I’m complaining or anything! As far as problems go I’d happily take ‘fridge too full with berries’ over pretty much anything else.
To kick us off we’re starting with this Grain Free Apple & Blackberry Crumble – fruit curtesy of our own garden. Nature is so bitchin’.
So let’s do this!
The base is easy enough to make – just throw together the fruit, spices and starch in your baking dish and mix it up and then pop it in the oven for about 15 minutes. Since almonds can burn pretty quickly in the oven you want to bake the apples & berries before adding the topping. This allows the fruit more time to break down and soften in the oven while you prep the crumble.
I’ve shared a couple of crumbles in the past (See: Exhibit A and Exhibit B) that use a traditional oatty crumble topping. Since even certified gluten free oats can be a bit tricky for a lot of coeliacs I decided to go with a grain free crumble topping with this one today. And let me tell you – it’s crazy delicious!
It’s made up mostly of ground almonds. Almond flour can be pretty expensive here so I ground up whole almonds in my blender instead of using straight flour. You can however use almond flour/almond meal if that’s easier, but I would recommend adding in a few of roughly chopped almonds for a little more added crunch.
Once you’ve got your almond how you like mix in some desiccated/shredded coconut, a little sweetener and a touch of cinnamon with some melted coconut oil. Mix it up and you’ve got a super tasty cookie crumble topping to scatter over your apple & blackberry base.
Pop it back in the oven for another 20ish minutes until sweet, bubbly and golden on top. Easy!
And then the hardest part is to try not to be like me pick off too many bits of crumble before anyone else can get a share… At least if you do make sure it’s strategically taken from all over the crumble so it’s harder for anyone to notice what’s going on. #LifeHack
Grain Free Apple & Blackberry Crumble
Sweet & tangy Apple & Blackberry Crumble - made with less than 10 ingredients and cooked in one dish! Paleo + Vegan
Ingredients
Filling
- 3 cups | 430 grams blackberries
- 4-5 medium | about 1 pound green apples, peeled and diced
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 cup | 50 grams coconut sugar (can sub with sweetener of your choice)
- 2 tablespoons | 25 grams tapioca flour or arrowroot starch
Topping
- 1 1/2 cups | 225 grams whole almonds (can use almond flour or meal)
- 1/4 cup | 24 grams unsweetened desiccated coconut (can sub with gluten free oats)
- 1/4 cup | 50 grams coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup | 60 grams melted coconut oil (can sub with butter or non dairy butter)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
Fruit Base
- Preheat the oven to 350F/180C. Grease a 9x13 baking dish
- Add the fruit, coconut sugar, cinnamon, ginger and tapioca or arrowroot starch to the prepared dish. Toss to combine coating the fruit well in the starch & sugar.
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes while you prep the topping.
Crumble Topping
- Add the whole almonds to a blender or food processor and pulse until crumbly and sandlike with larger almond chunks left in tact.
- Add the pulsed almonds to a medium sized mixing bowl along with the remaining topping ingredients and mix until you have a crumbly but combined mixture.
- After your berry base has baked in the oven for 15 minutes take it out spread the crumble mixture over the fruit and cover evenly.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until the topping is browning slightly. The fruit underneath will be bubbling slightly. Let stand for 10 minutes to cool before serving.
Cindy says
How much almond flour is actually used? You only mention crushing or pounding the whole almonds.
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Cindy! You’re supposed to use all of it – in the second step under ‘Crumble Topping’ the recipe says to add the pulsed almonds to a mixing bowl with all the other ingredients.
Rosa says
Just use your crumble recipe to make a rhubarb crumble and it was absolutely fabulous.Thank you
Sarah Nevins says
Ooh that sounds delicious! So glad you enjoyed it – thanks Rosa 🙂
Kim says
Can you use frozen berries? Thaw first?
Sarah Nevins says
Frozen fruit will work! You can actually just use it straight out of the freezer. I’ve made other crumbles in the past using bags of frozen fruit and it worked just the same!
Engi says
Would the crumble work with molten coconut oil? What I understand is that the oil should be cold so that the crumble would form.
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Engi! I recommend melting the coconut oil so that you’re able to fully mix together the topping. If its too solid you’ll likely just end up with solid pieces of oil surrounded by sugar and flour.
Shannon says
Are you using Granny Smith apples when you refer to using green apples in this recipe?
Sarah says
I use bramley cooking apples because we’re lucky enough to have a tree in our garden but granny smith will also work just as well!
Marjory @ Dinner-Mom says
This is sooo delicious! The blackberry and green apple combo is fantastic!
Sarah says
Thanks Marjory!