dessert

This strawberry breakfast crumble was actually developed by my beautiful, talented, sister.  I went to her condo one weekend morning and she asked me if I wanted some strawberry breakfast crumble, I’m usually on board for eating dessert for breakfast so I said ‘sure!’. Then she proceeded to tell me this is not a dessert crumble as some would imagine it to be sweet, decadent, and a tad guilty for consuming so early in the day.  Instead she described it as a breakfast crumble which means (to her) that it’s made with no refined sugar and uses only ingredients one would typically eat for a healthy breakfast; fruit, oats, chia seeds etc.

I was intrigued and proceeded to watch her make it in front of me.  It was SO easy to make, took all of ten minutes to whip up and put in the oven.  When I saw that beautiful crumble come out of the oven, before even tasting it, I knew I had to share this recipe.

How did it taste though? It was:

• Flavourful & filling 
• Tart and zingy 
• Warm and pure from the whole foods

So, I had to go back home and try it out for myself and figure out the exact measurements.  I had asked her probably 4 times what the ingredients for the crumble were. Little did she know, every time I asked her for the recipe the ingredients or measurements would slightly change.  I tried for a good 6 months to perfect this recipe, but every time something just felt off, either too much salt, too much lemon, not sweet enough.  Until now I FINALLY perfected the ingredients so it is well balanced.

If you are looking for more of a dessert crumble, you can simply add some coconut sugar to the strawberries and more maple syrup to the oat crumble topping and use vegan butter instead of coconut oil.  You can also use any type of berry, strawberries are naturally sweet to me, but blueberries or a mixed berry combination would be delicious too, raspberries alone will yield sourer results. You can also reduce the strawberries by one cup and add 1 cup of rhubarb. 

You don’t have to bake this in a large baking dish either, you can portion out in to individual ramakins (my personal favourite).  By doing individual ramakins the crumble keeps its shape and it’s so much cuter to eat out of. 

Print

Healthy Breakfast Crumble

Course Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Keyword gluten free, vegan

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 6

Ingredients

Berry Layer

• 4 cups frozen strawberries
• 1 tbsp ground white chia seeds
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp maple syrup optional

Oat Crumble Topping

• 1.5 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup almond flour
• 3 tbsp solid coconut oil
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• pinch salt

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F and coat a 9 x 8 square or rectangular baking dish or individual ramakins with some coconut oil 

2. Mix the oats, almond flour, cinnamon and salt in a bowl and then add the maple syrup and stir.  Add 1 tbsp at a time of the solid coconut oil and mix until all the crumble is stuck to the coconut oil. I find using a metal spoon works best by gently squishing the coconut oil and oats together.  Set aside

3. Place the strawberries, lemon juice, maple syrup (if using) and vanilla in a pot and cook on medium heat

4. Once the strawberries have started to melt and release their liquid for about 5 minutes, add the ground chia seeds and cook another couple minutes until it thickens up. It will thicken up more in the oven too

5. Pour the strawberry mixture in the bottom of your baking dish and top with the oat crumble.  Gently press the oat crumble down.

6. Place in the oven for approximately 30 minutes, if using a large baking dish, 15 minutes if using individual ramekins. I sometimes turn on broil for the last minute to get the top crumble nice and toasty but make sure you watch it closely.

7. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving

Recipe Notes

*You can use any type of berry, I find strawberries are sweeter than most, so I like to use that, however, blueberries or a mixed berry would work too.  If I have any fresh or frozen rhubarb I will also add in 1 cup of that and reduce the strawberries by 1 cup. If you use raspberries only it will yield more tart results, so I would add a tbsp or so of maple syrup or coconut sugar. 

**my sister used white chia seeds because it won’t change the beautiful colour of the strawberries, if you use black chia seeds it could make the strawberries turn dark.  I don’t have white chia seeds, so I used black and it did change the colour of the strawberries slightly, but it didn’t bother me.

***solid coconut oil is coconut oil that is firm at room temperature.  Melted coconut oil will not work! If your coconut oil is melted at room temperature put it in the fridge for a few minutes to firm up.

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?

If you try this recipe I would love to see it and share it! Tag me on IG @thegreenerer, using the hashtag #thegreenerer