Nicola Brown shares a pear and berry crumble recipe that's perfect for chilly nights.
You can make this recipe with your favourite combination of fruits, or if you're a purist you'll stick to classic apple.
Now let's imagine you fancy something creamy to serve with your crumble. Greek yoghurt works well, as does (surprise!) cream.
But perhaps you happen to be vegan, or want to cut down on dairy. Or maybe you find that you have no yoghurt/cream in the house but inexplicably soaked some cashews or placed a can of coconut cream in the fridge the night before, in which case you're home and hosed.
There are two options here for non-dairy alternatives to cream: and they're both delicious!
Use whatever fruit you have available for this crumble: tamarillo, rhubarb or feijoa are great when in season too (use in place of some of the pears). Even without the crumble topping, the fruit mix tastes wonderful with porridge or cereal.
Or you could go all out and eat crumble for breakfast. That's entirely your business.
This recipe is dairy-free and to make it gluten-free, use buckwheat flakes instead of rolled oats. If you make your own nut milk, use the leftover nut pulp in place of the ground almonds in the crumble layer.
Pear and berry crumble
Fruit layer
4-5 large pears (or apples), cored and chopped
zest and juice of 1 orange
1 Tbsp coconut or raw sugar
1 tsp mixed spice
1 cup frozen mixed berries, thawed
Crumble layer
½ cup rolled or wholegrain oats
¼ cup ground almonds
¼ cup desiccated coconut
¼ cup brown rice flour
⅓ cup coconut or raw sugar
¾ tsp cinnamon
pinch of ground cloves
¼ cup coconut oil, melted
½ tsp vanilla extract
Method
Place pears in a saucepan with about ¾ of a cup of water. Add the orange zest, sugar and spice and simmer for about 10 minutes or until just tender. Stir through the orange juice and berries; place fruit and liquid in a large flat baking dish (or individual dishes).
Preheat oven to 180degC. Place all crumble ingredients in food processor and pulse until combined. Spoon a generous helping of topping over the fruit and press down. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until golden and bubbling.
Serves 6-8. Make a double recipe to provide crumble for a crowd.
Cashew cream
In summer, this cream is delicious if you add the flesh of a perfectly ripe peach and leave out the honey or maple syrup.
Ingredients
1 cup cashew nuts, soaked 2 hours or more and drained
2 Tbsp honey or maple syrup
½ lemon, juiced
seeds from 1 vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla extract
¼-½ cup water (approx: use less for whipped cream, more for liquid cream)
Method
Blend all ingredients until creamy. Add water gradually to reach desired consistency.
Store in fridge 4-5 days; freezes well.
Makes 1 cup.
Whipped coconut cream
Ingredients
270ml full-fat, preservative-free coconut milk
1 Tbsp coconut sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
Method
Refrigerate tin of coconut milk overnight. Carefully remove from fridge and scoop off the cream (reserve the milk for another recipe).
Place half a cup of coconut cream in a mini-blender with the other ingredients and blend until thick and creamy (this can also be mixed with a stick blender).
Store in refrigerator 4-5 days.
Makes ½ a cup.
Info box
Want more scrumptious plant-based recipes? The snack recipe ebook, Feeling Peckish, is available on the Nibl website.
It contains 22 plant-based snack recipes, plus some variations - a mixture of sweet and savoury, some super-fast to make and some requiring a little effort, mostly gluten and dairy-free - and all delicious!
See nibl.co.nz/feeling-peckish-ebook/ for more information. And if you like to be organised, there's also a series of snack kitchen prep plans available to buy: look for the Snack Attack Pack.
