Six-cup gluten-free fruit crumble
Servings: 6
This gluten-free 6-cupper is based on my mother-in-law Jackie’s crumble, and it’s one of my favourite ways to make use of left-over winter fruit – or the fruit that’s been languishing in the freezer taking up space. It’s not only gluten-free, it can also easily be made vegan, so it’s perfect for when you’re not sure what kind of dietaries are about to walk through the door, and is also very simple to prepare ahead. The fruit can be stewed days before, with the crumble rubbed together and sprinkled over just before guests arrive – or skip the crumble and serve the blushing bowls of stewed fruit with a side of natural yoghurt or cream. Speaking of cream, get ready for the world’s simplest ‘creme anglaise’ or custard: melted ice cream, which is basically just frozen anglaise to begin with! This is a trick I picked up from the American queen of simple entertaining, Ina Garten, whose biography brought me so much joy to read – the idea of being “ready when the luck happens” resonated deeply. Having a recipe like this up your sleeve means you’ll be ready when you luck in to some extra fruit too.
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Ingredients
Fruit base
- 6 cups (about 1.5 kg) of fruit such as apples, pears, rhubarb, berries, stonefruit – whatever you’ve got chopped into 3 cm pieces
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 cinnamon quill
- 2 star anise
Crumble topping
- 120 g (4 oz) cold butter cubed (or dairy-free spread/coconut oil if you’d prefer)
- 100 g (3½ oz) gluten-free plain (all-purpose) flour
- ½ cup (100 g) brown sugar
- ⅓ cup (70 g) quinoa flakes
- ¼ cup (30 g) roughly blitzed hazelnuts toasted
- ¼ cup (40 g) roughly blitzed almonds toasted
- ¼ cup (25 g) almond meal
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- Good quality vanilla ice cream or coconut cream to serve
Instructions
- Pop the fruit, sugar, cinnamon stick and star anise in a large heavy-based saucepan. Pour in ¼ cup (60 ml) water, cover and simmer for 30–40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the firmer fruit softens to a purée; some mild chunks are fine for texture. Leave to cool slightly, then transfer to a 6 cup (1.5 litre) baking dish.
- Preheat the oven to 160°C fan (180℃ conventional).
- To make the crumble, lightly rub together the butter and flour in a bowl with your fingertips, then stir in the rest of the ingredients with a wooden spoon. Sprinkle it over the stewed fruit, heaping it into each nook and cranny. Bake for 15–20 minutes, or until the top is golden.
- Meanwhile, pull the ice cream out of the freezer and let it melt enough to turn out into a jug or bowl, then leave it in a warm spot (probably by the oven) to continue to melt slowly until it’s foamy and custardy.
- Serve the crumble warm, with the melted ice cream, or whatever floats your boat.
