My Humble Apple Crumble

This is my go-to apple crumble. Depending on the season I'll add blackberries, raspberries, and / or plums to the mix of apples.

My family loves crumble. After searching for a truly delicious alternative to the heavy sugary, gluten laden traditional pudding, and after experimenting with various flours and healthier sweeteners like honey and stevia .. I stumbled upon the following combination. (This even won over some of the more hardcore sugar and wheat lovers out there who I know and love).

I had looked everywhere for a gluten-free (assiduously avoiding the nutritionally dubious 'gluten-free' flour) and refined sugar-free version that actually tasted like crumble.

I've eaten a lot of crumble alternatives using oats and rice flour but I personally feel this recipe conjures the magic of tucking into an Autumnal crumble.

I choose non-cooking apples as they're naturally sweet, and therefore removes the need for sweetening in the compote. If, however, you feel you need a little extra sweetener, I suggest you add a splash of agave syrup.

We eat this with Boojabooja 'nice' cream because it is quite frankly the best ice-cream I've ever had.

enough for 8-10 people

compote:

800g apples -- peeled, cored, quartered

400g blackberries (and / raspberries or plums)

2 tablespoons water

squeeze half lemon

half teaspoon cinnamon

crumble:

150g buckwheat flour

150g almond flour

50g (chilled) butter

agave syrup (two-three dessert spoons, depending on how sweet you like your crumble)

method:

heat oven to 180 degrees.

Put chopped apple in saucepan, with a tablespoon of water, lemon and cinnamon, cook on low heat for 5 minutes.

Add (frozen) blackberries after 2 minutes. You may need to add more water.

Make crumble by mixing the almond flour and buckwheat flour. Dice the chilled butter and then crumble it with cool fingers into the flour. Don't over mix it. Then add some agave syrup; a little at a time, to make sure the mix still stays relatively dry and not over sweetened. You don't want the crumble to become too moist. Taste it to see if it needs a little more syrup or not. Then spread the crumble flat onto a baking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes.

Put the fruit compote into a nice big oven dish and spread the crumble on top then cook for 10-15 minutes.