Crumbles are a firm favourite at our house and I’ve been making them for years and years! I always get the best reactions when the crumble is really crunchy. And for that crunchy topping, it’s best to use brown sugar. White sugar is fine, and the crumble texture is a bit lighter. However, I find that it never turns a truly golden colour. I like to mix brown and white sugar together so I get that extra crunch. This also helps to keep the flavour light and not too treacly. Do feel free to experiment for yourself and let us know how you get on!
What can I expect?
My vegan fruit crumble is easy and fun, particularly as you can use any fruit you like! Depending on what you have to hand, fresh, frozen or tinned fruit will all work well. This whole dessert is easy to put together and absolutely delicious. The layers of flavour come from the combination of fruit, ground nutmeg, fragrant lemon zest and lightly spiced crumble.
Our ethos is always about sharing scrumptious meals that cater to as many dietary lifestyles as possible! As always, this recipe is completely vegan due to the substitution of margarine for butter. Good news, this recipe also works perfectly well with gluten-free flour or rice flour! So any coeliacs or dairy allergy sufferers at the table can tuck in to this fruity treat too!
You can see each step that goes into making this fruity delight, then head over to our Instagram stories for this recipe and more!
If you’ve enjoyed making this crumble, our Kid’s Vegan Chocolate Concrete also allows you to hone in on this culinary skill too. To further your foray into baking, then do take a peek at the following vegan recipes:
- Banana Bread
- Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies
- French Apple Tart
- Cookies 2.0
- Brownies
- Coffee & Chocolate Shortbread
- Kid’s Cornflake (Sunshine) Tart
Let’s get started on our Fruit Crumble!
Fruit Crumble
Equipment
- Large Frying Pan
- Chopping Board
- Knife
- Vegetable Peeler
- Grater
- Wooden Spoon
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Ceramic Baking Dish
Ingredients
- 1.4 kg any fruit of your choice (e.g. Rhubarb, Apples, Plums etc.)
- 3 tbsp Caster Sugar
- 3 tbsp Agave Nectar or Maple Syrup plus extra for drizzling
- Zest 1 Lemon
- Pinch Nutmeg
Crumble
- 230 g Plain Flour (can be Gluten-Free)
- 90 g Margarine
- 85 g Mixture of Soft Light Brown Sugar and Granulated White Sugar plus extra for sprinkling
- 50 g Oats
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
Instructions
- Begin by preparing the fruits of your choice. I’m using rhubarb, apples and plums. I’ve washed them thoroughly, peeled the apples and chopped everything roughly. Set the fruit aside.
- Add 2 tablespoons of caster sugar to a large frying pan over a low heat.
- We’re making a caramel, so don’t stir the sugar at any point as this will cause the sugar to seize, crystalize and become grainy. It’s best to just shake the pan gently every so often to allow the sugar to settle in a nice, even layer. That way, the sugar melts and caramelises at a similar rate.
- Once the sugar starts to melt, add the final tablespoon of caster sugar, taking care not to stir it in.
- Melted sugar can go from clear to amber to burnt very quickly, so err on the side of caution. And keep in mind, melted sugar is very hot, so never touch with your hands and keep away from children.
- As the sugar becomes amber in colour, add the agave nectar or maple syrup and drop in the fruit. The caramel might clump a bit under the fruit, but don’t worry, keep stirring and the caramel should soon melt again and become reincorporated.
- Cook the fruit for 5-10 minutes. The cooking time will vary as it depends on the fruit that you’re using.
- Sometimes I don’t bother to pre-cook the fruit and just top it immediately with the crumble layer. While this is largely successful with berries (as they’re soft), you might find that more fibrous fruits, such as apples, plums or rhubarb, simply won’t cook properly beneath the crumble. Queue many disappointed diners...! So, we pre-cook to ensure the fruit is completely soft and we reduce it down in the pan into a fragrant and sweet jam-like mixture.
For the Crumble
- Using clean hands, rub together with your fingers the flour, sugar and margarine into a crumble. The mixture should resemble breadcrumbs.
- Add the oats and stir to combine. To help aerate the crumble, use your hands to dig into the crumble and lift the mixture up. Then let it fall through your fingers. Keep doing this to add more air into the crumble and create a lighter crumb.
- Pour the fruit into a baking dish (no need to grease) and use a spoon to level out the mixture evenly.
- Drizzle extra maple syrup or agave nectar over the fruit.
- Sprinkle over the nutmeg and then the lemon zest.
- Pour roughly half of the crumble over the fruit mixture and spread it out evenly.
- Sprinkle an extra pinch of sugar over the crumble and top with the remaining crumble. Spread evenly over the top. You don’t want to make it compact, so don’t pat the crumble down, just lightly spread it out.
- Bake at 180°C/350°F for 22-25 minutes.
- Serve and enjoy!
