Strawberry Crumble

This easy to prepare strawberry crumble makes the most of sweet in season strawberries with a thick jamy strawberry sauce topped with a crumble of oats and cinnamon making it the perfect comforting winter dessert, best served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. This strawberry crumble is also vegan, dairy free and gluten free!

Queensland winters are a little bit different to what you would expect from the cold season. We have beautifully warm sunny days, there are less rainy days than in the summer months, and we have an abundance of in season strawberries.

The perfect Queensland winter day could easily be mistaken for summer anywhere else in the world.

So every winter we are treated to local fresh strawberries that are the best you will eat all year and only a couple of dollars a punnet.They are dark red and super sweet and always find a way into my trolley.

While I love to eat strawberries fresh, I am always thinking about other ways to enjoy them. This year I really wanted to make a dessert that truly highlighted the fruit rather than having them as a side or garnish which is a role they often play, being the perfect match to many other flavours such as chocolate and lemon.

And today I am very happy to let you in on the delight of my past few evenings. This is possibly the best thing I have made in a while and with every bite of this strawberry crumble I am reminded how exiting simple food can be.

This strawberry crumble really hero’s the fresh flavour of the strawberries and I could happily have multiple platefulls. It is a warming, comforting dessert that doesn’t leave you needing to lay down afterwards.

This is the kind of dessert you can make whenever strawberries are in season near you. It has enough freshness that makes it perfect enjoyed cold on a summer evening, and just enough cozy spiciness to be enjoyed warm inside snuggled up on the couch.

This strawberry crumble, or strawberry crisp as some may call it, is a layer of jamy, saucy strawberries topped with a crunchy mix of oats, almond meal, cinnamon and coconut oil. It is one of the simplest desserts to prepare and is the perfect recipe if you’re not super comfortable with baking. Also by replacing the usual butter with coconut oil, and using almond meal instead of flour, this dessert becomes gluten free, dairy free and vegan making it a great dessert for everyone.

You’ll need two bowls. In the first one, add a kilo of chopped strawberries. My strawberries were monsters, so I chose to quarter them, but if yours are smaller you may want to either halve them or even leave them whole in some cases. Having the strawberries slightly different sizes is fine as some will break down completely while the larger ones will remain giving you a bit of variance of texture.

To the chopped strawberries, add the cornflour and sugar. If your strawberries are not very sweet, you may want to increase the quantity of sugar. I also wanted to make sure there was still a hint of tartness coming through from the strawberries which is why I am only adding ¼ cup. Decide what is going to be best for your tastes. Add in the vanilla and a squeeze of lemon juice to bring out the flavours and mix everything to combine. Set aside while you are making the crumble topping.

Mix all the crumble topping ingredients together in another bowl and you are ready to assemble.
I used a 24.5cm x 6 cm square baking dish which was the perfect size for this crumble. Add your strawberries to the baking dish (there is no need to grease the dish first). The addition of the sugar to the strawberries will have allowed them to begin to release their juices so you should see them start to look a bit syrupy. Once the strawberries are evenly in the bottom of the baking dish, sprinkle the crumble over the top.

This will need to bake for 30-40 minutes. You will know it is done when the edges are a deep red and a thick, sticky looking sauce is bubbling up and the topping is a deep golden colour. Also, fair warning the smells of this cooking is absolutely glorious. If they made a candle that smells like this strawberry crumble baking, I would 100% have it burning all the time.

Now the impulse to dig in as soon as you take it out of the oven is real, but I am asking you to wait. Just a little bit. Let it cool for maybe 15 minutes minimum so that the sauce keeps thickening. Serve it out with a large spoon, remembering it is supposed to be messy, and add a scoop of your favourite vanilla ice cream.

There is nothing better than the melty vanilla ice cream through the warm strawberry sauce. It is utter bliss and I am here to say this is my new indulgent winter dessert.

Is this strawberry crumble gluten free?

I have labelled this dessert as gluten free however there is a bit of a caveat on that. Australia has some of the best food labelling laws in the world, and it is vastly different to those of the US. As there is no regulated test for detecting gluten in oats, our food labelling laws will not allow oats to be labelled gluten free.

Basically, oats are ‘probably’ going to be fine for those who are sensitive to gluten due to the very small amount of wheat that may be present, however it is not something that is 100%.

If you suffer from gluten intolerance, you will likely know if oats are ok for you. If you are making this for a friend, it is best to ask. Most people who are sensitive to gluten will be fine with oats, however those with celiac disease may not be ok with it, so it is definitely best to check.

If you are in the US or Europe, the above will not apply to you so it is best to confirm locally if your oats are free from gluten, especially if you are wanting to make this for someone with celiac disease.

This is the perfect dessert to make for friends or family as it will easily serve 6, and the easy prep time means you are not spending your evening in the kitchen.

Try serving it after my one pan roast chicken for a low fuss but delicious winter dinner party.

Really, there is no occasion that this strawberry crumble is not perfect for. Do yourself and your evenings a favour and next time your at the grocery store, make sure some of these beautiful winter strawberries find their way into your trolley.

Oh and if you decided to serve this with yoghurt instead of ice cream, I’d say it’s basically a breakfast food…

If you do make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and rating below! And tag any of your creations on Instagram with #eightforestlane as I would love to see.

Strawberry Crumble

This easy to prepare strawberry crumble makes the most of sweet in season strawberries with a thick jamy strawberry sauce topped with a crumble of oats and cinnamon making it the perfect comforting winter dessert, best served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

5 from 3 votes

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Australian

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 servings

Author: Sally

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

• 1 kg fresh strawberries
• 2 tablespoons cornflour
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• squeeze of lemon juice optional

Crumble Topping

• 1 cup rolled oats
• ½ cup almond meal
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• pinch salt
• 6 tablespoons coconut oil melted

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180°C. Quarter strawberries and add them to a large glass mixing bowl. Add in cornflour, sugar, vanilla and lemon juice and toss using a rubber spatula until strawberries are coated. Set aside.
• In another bowl, mix together oats, almond meal, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt with a spatula or spoon. Add in melted coconut oil and mix to combine.
• Add strawberry mixture to a 24cm square ceramic baking dish and spread out evenly. Place crumble topping over the top of the strawberries and place in the oven for 30-40 minutes until the top is golden and crunch and the strawberries are thick and bubbling up the sides of the pan.
• Let cool before digging in as this will allow the strawberries to continue to thicken. Serve while still a little warm in the centre with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Notes

Fresh strawberries work the best for this, however if you want to use frozen, just defrost them first and discard any excess moisture.

Try this crumble with blueberries, raspberries or a combination instead.

Nutrition

Calories: 388kcal | Carbohydrates: 53g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 8mg | Potassium: 330mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 35g | Vitamin A: 20IU | Vitamin C: 98mg | Calcium: 71mg | Iron: 2mg

Nutritional information is provided as a guide only and is calculated using automated online tools, therefore we cannot guarantee the accuracy. We encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe.

Have you made this recipe?Leave a comment and a rating below and tag your creations with #eightforestlane on Instagram!

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