With visions of chocolate-orange torte and giant cookies dancing in my head, I was a little saddened when the waitress at Café SoupHerbe in Old Chelsea told me that the only vegan dessert was the three-fruit crumble. I swallowed my disappointment and then quickly swallowed the crumble I’d grudgingly ordered, because it was totally out of this world, and perhaps the next. I hope that this adaptation does their version justice, and proves that fruity desserts can be just as satisfying and decadent as any chocolate concoction or cookie. You can use pretty well any fruit in a fruit crumble, depending on what’s in season or what you have in your fridge/freezer. Frozen fruit works great, and even canned fruit will work ok if combined with frozen or fresh fruit (a crumble made from all canned fruit… well it might be ok, but I’ve never had the guts to try it).
Get the following ingredients ready:
- 6 cups fruit (I used cranberries, blueberries, strawberries and peaches in the crumble shown above)
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup brown sugar, depending on your sweet tooth (regular old organic sugar from sugar cane or sucanat are fine too, but brown sugar makes the dish all warm and fuzzy)
- 3 tbsp whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup rolled oat flakes (if you have any on hand, replace about a 1/4 cup kamut flakes for an extra lil’ oomph)
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup unbleached white flour
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice
- 1/2 cup EarthBalance veggie butter (see staples)
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine the fruit, brown sugar and whole wheat flour. Once that’s well-mixed, pour into a 9-inch baking dish (I’ve used 8-inch and that works too) and set aside. Grab your bowl again (I hate doing needless dishes) and combine the sugar, rolled oat flakes, flours and allspice. Mix. Now add the “butter”, make sure those hands are washed and all clean, and go to town! Mix the butter into the oat mixture with your fingers, working it in, making sure that there’s no leftover flour left at the bottom of the bowl. Once that’s combined and you’ve had your food-touch therapy for the day, sprinkle the crumble over the fruit and throw it into the oven for 35 minutes or until the top is all golden.
I resisted the temptation to drizzle a bit of maple syrup over the top before putting it in the oven, but I’m thinking that might be really tasty. I ALSO resisted the temptation to add more butter which would have allowed me to make lil’ clumps of crumble which would certainly add to the decadence of the dish, but I’m not about to undo all the good I’m doing choosing fruit over chocolate for dessert! Serve warm or cold, with or without soy ice cream.
One Lil' Vegan 