Name: Apricot Basil Gluten Free Crumble
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 40 min
Ingredients: 1 /2 cup halved walnuts (can use pecans, hazelnuts or even almonds instead); 1/2 cup golden brown sugar; 1/2 cup oat flour (you can just grind down your own oats); 1/4 cup buckwheat flour; 1/4 cup sweet rice flour; 1 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp cinnamon; 1/4 tsp kosher salt; 1/4 cup rolled oats; 1 egg (beaten); 7 tbsp butter melted (cooled a bit); 1 tbsp raw sugar, coarse (for sprinkling); 7 cups apricots (halved and quartered); 1 tbsp lemon juice; 6 tbsp sugar; 4 tbsp arrowroot starch; 1 tbsp packed chopped fresh basil; 1/2 tsp cinnamon; 1/2 tsp vanilla

If Jim could only have one dessert for the rest of his life, it would be a toss up between pie and crumble. And since crumble is basically pie without the outside crust, I think they count as the same dessert!

Yes, since crumbles or crisps are basically fruit with a streusel type topping all baked till bubbling, they make for year round easy to whip up ways to enjoy the season’s fruit. Btw, Crisp vs Crumble: crisp is supposed to have rolled oats, crumbles don’t. But in the end, we mean the same streuselly goodness that goes over fruit, right?!

Back last Autumn I shared the Master Crisp or Crumble recipe to go with an Autumn Plum Cumble. Think of this as the early summer version. Apricots are cousins of plums, since they are both stone fruits, and even have a similar flavour profile. While plums range in colours from bright pink to almost black blue, apricots have that perfect salmon pink/orange pastel hue. But they work exactly the same when it comes to baking. So anytime you want to use plums for say a strudel, cake, clafoutis, ice cream, or hand pie, go ahead and use apricots!

Master Crumble Recipe

Here are the ingredients you will need for absolutely any crumble you want to bake, all year round:

Walnuts (or pecans, or any nut you like!) They add texture and flavour, and a little bit of healthy fat.

Oat flour, sweet rice flour, buckwheat flour. Rolled oats. If gluten isn’t an issue for you, then you can replace these with regular wheat flour. But don’t replace the rolled oats, they are always wanted in a streusel topping like this! And if you like the earthy joy that is buckwheat, then don’t replace it either!

Your flavour additives will be golden brown sugar, cinnamon and salt.

An egg and some baking powder will be the leavening agents.

Butter will help it all crisp up and be tender as well.

Here is my Trick for making this recipe even more accessible: Whiz up the nuts, flours, sugar, baking powder, salt and rolled oats. From here you can continue with the recipe and bake up a dessert enough to feed 6-8 people. Or if you want, divide the prepared dry ingredients in half. Freeze half in a sealed container for a future crumble. And use the other half right now for a crumble enough to feed 3-4 people! Since it is just the two of us, I will often do this. This way we can enjoy fruit, without committing to one flavour of dessert for too long. Make another one with different fruit this way!!

But Jen, What About the Egg?

Yes, there is only one egg in the crumble topping. And I just told you that you can halve the recipe. So what about the egg? Since both the egg yolk and white play a role in the crumble (the yolk is a binder, the white is a leavener) we can’t just use one or the other. So the best thing to do is this: Crack the egg into a small measuring cup. Whisk it till it is completely incorporated. It should be roughly 1/4 cup worth of egg. Measure out half for the recipe, and save the other half to add to scrambled eggs for lunch! The egg mixture will get drizzled onto the dry mixture and then you will use your fingers to gently toss it all together till little pebbles form, some small some larger. You want all sizes for added texture in the final crumble.

Is Basil the Only Option?

I love the way basil tastes with apricots. Very summery and slightly savoury. But if basil isn’t your thing, feel free to use mint or thyme. All of these fresh herbs work wonderfully with fruit. Of course, never use dried herbs, their presence will be more bitter and annoying rather than a pleasant flavour enhancer. The fresh chopped basil gets combined with sugar and arrowroot starch and tossed with the fruit to help it start macerating. Then it gets transferred to a greased baking dish. For a full crumble recipe, you will want to have between 6 and 7 cups of fruit. I always err on the side of more!

Scatter the streusel topping over the prepared fruit. And then drizzle melted butter evenly over the streusel topping. This will help create a tender flakey texture that isn’t too stiff, firm or dry. Bake till the fruit is just bubbling. Depending on the fruit you are using, you may need up to 45 minutes in a 375F oven. If it is berries etc it will most likely be ready in 35-40 minutes. If your crisp needs more time in the oven, you may want to cover the top loosely with foil to keep it from over-browning.

Let it rest for about 15 minutes and then serve with ice cream, whipped cream or even crème fraîche. Leftovers are great in the morning with yogurt. Yes, this is totally breakfast worthy!

And yes, this streusel topping would be great on a Dutch Apple Pie, or any pie that you don’t feel like using a top pastry crust. And the same applies, if the pie isn’t finished baking, but the streusel is nicely browned, then cover with foil till the filling is bubbly. In fact, the remaining half of the streusel topping that you have in the freezer is the perfect amount for one pie!

Love Jen