plum crumble
A deliciously warming, spiced crumble for the winter months.
It's well worth making the effort to use fruit sugar, or xylitol if you can get hold of it. Both have a much lower GI (refined sugar is usually at least 5x higher) making this a healthier version of crumble. Plums themselves are high in fibre so they're a great fruit to eat – and this recipe makes them very moreish!
preparation time 5 minutes
cooking 20 to 25 minutes
serves 4
4 tablespoons dairy-free margarine
2 pounds 4 ounces plums, halved and pitted
6 to 8 tablespoons runny honey
4 star anise
topping:
scant 1 cup rice flour
scant ¼ cup buckwheat flour
scant ¼ cup gram flour
8 tablespoons chilled dairy-free margarine, cut into small cubes
scant ½ cup fruit sugar or xylitol
1 Heat the oven to 350ºF.
2 Heat the margarine in a large, heavy-bottom skillet over medium heat. Add the plums and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the honey, depending on the sweetness of the plums, and the star anise and cook for a further 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3 Meanwhile, make the crumble. Sift the flours into a large mixing bowl and add the sugar. Add the butter and, using cold fingertips, rub it into the flours and sugar until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. You can also do this in a food processor: simply sift the flours into a large mixing bowl and add the sugar. Transfer to the bowl, add the sugar and the margarine and blend briefly until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs.
4 Spoon the plum mixture in a 10-cup baking dish, removing the star anise as you find them. Crumble the topping mixture over the plums, making sure all the plums are covered.
5 Bake in the hot oven for 20 to 25 minutes until a golden-brown crust forms on the top. Take the crumble out of the oven and serve immediately.
related ingredients: fruit sugar,
goat's milk,
gram/chickpea flour,
rice flour,
xylitol
