Super-Healthy Apple & Blackberry Crumble with Maple Spiced Cashew "Creme"
Apple & Blackberry Crumble with Maple Spiced Cashew "Creme"
This is a divine, delicious, warming winter's dessert. But it's also so healthy you could eat it for breakfast! It has a fraction of the sugar of normal crumble desserts and lots of nutritious ingredients added in.
Ingredients
5 Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 punnet blackberries
Juice of one lemon
1-2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 teaspoon maple syrup (trust me! This is all the sweetener you need for the apples)
1-2 teaspoons macadamia oil (or grapeseed or other mildly flavoured oil)
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice (mixed spice is a mixture of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice. If you don't have mixed spice you can just use cinnamon and/or ginger)
Crumble
1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup pecan nuts (or almonds or hazelnuts, whatever you prefer!)
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup buckwheat (optional)
1/4 cup sultanas, soaked in water for 30 minutes - 1 hour (or use 2 pitted dates)
1 teaspoon macadamia oil (or grapeseed or other mildly flavoured oil)
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon mixed spice (or cinnamon and/or ginger)
Maple Spiced Cashew "Creme"
1 cup unsalted cashews, soaked in water for 30 minutes - 1 hour
3 teaspoons maple syrup
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice (or cinnamon and/or ginger)
Method
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius.
Place all Crumble ingredients in a food processor.
Pulse until the desired crumble consistency is reached. Be careful not to process it too fine.
Set aside.
Brush the inside of a baking dish with the macadamia or other mild oil
Toss apple slices in lemon juice, lemon zest and mixed spice
Arrange half the apple slices in baking dish. Top with half the blackberries, then add in the rest of the apple slices and top with the remaining half punnet of blackberries.
Top with crumble mix and place in preheated oven.
How long you cook the crumble will depend on your oven, the shape and depth of your baking dish etc. I recommend you check it after 30 minutes. If necessary lower the oven temperature to 150 degrees and if the crumble mix is starting too look dark, cover it until the last 5 minutes of cooking.
While the apple crumble is cooking, make the Maple Spiced Cashew Creme:
Place all ingredients in a high speed blender. I use the Vitamix S30 as it is powerful and suitable for blending small amounts like this.
Blend at high speed for 30 seconds to 1 minute or until a smooth creamy texture is achieved.
When the apples have softened and the crumble mix is golden brown, remove the crumble from oven.