Mini plum crumble recipe

Mini plum crumbles - a lunchbox treat

Last month I mentioned that I was keen to try making mini fruit crumbles for L's lunchbox.

Well I made them, and they were a huge hit. So I made them again. And they're still a huge hit.

Now I'm going to share my recipe with you. (You're welcome!)

Filling ingredients

• Enough fruit of your choice to fill a large saucepan once chopped up (I used plums and pears donated from friends' fruit trees, plus apples from my own tree. The plums gave the crumble a lovely rich red colour, which Lily adores, but they are tart, so I found that the pear and apple helped compensate for that.)
• 1T water
• Dollop of butter
• Dollop of honey
• 1-2t cinnamon, to taste 
• Zest of one orange or lemon, optional

Filling method
1. Peel, core/de-stone, and slice up your fruit. (Note: I peeled the pears and apples but not the plums).

2. Place prepared fruit in a large saucepan over a medium heat.

3. Add 1T water, a dollop of butter, a dollop of honey, 1-2t cinnamon and the zest of one orange or lemon. Stir through.

4. Cook fruit uncovered until it is softened. While fruit is cooking, prepare your topping ingredients (see below).

5. If the cooked fruit looks too wet, mix together 2T cornflour with enough water to incorporate and stir that through.

6. Spoon the stewed fruit into six - eight ceramic ramekins and top with your prepared topping ingredients (see below).

Topping ingredients

• 1/2c finest cut rolled oats
• 1/2c almond flour
• 1/2c coconut flour or desiccated coconut (I used a mixture of both for the different textures)
• 1/2c unrefined sugar
• 1/2c plain all-purpose flour or sprouted flour
• 1/4c chia seeds
• 60g butter, melted

Topping and cooking method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F.

2. Mix all topping ingredients together, using your hands if needed to incorporate the butter.

3. Sprinkle topping mixture over stewed fruit in their individual ramekins and press down lightly with your fingers to compact the topping. This will help it crisp up and hold together better in the lunchbox.

4. Place all the ramekins in an oven tray in the centre of your oven and bake at 180°C / 350°F for around 15-25 minutes, or until looking golden on top.

5. Remove from oven.

These mini crumbles are lovely eaten hot with fresh raw cream for dessert.

However, as I said I've mostly been freezing them to use in L's lunchboxes.

To do this I wait for them to cool and then simply secure a piece of baking paper over the ramekin with a rubber band and store it in the freezer until needed. The frozen crumble helps keep other food in L's lunchbox cool, and has usually defrosted enough by lunchtime for her to spoon it out cold.

Enjoy!

~ Find more Craving Fresh recipes here! ~