Strawberry and Rhubarb Crumble Tart

Ooooohhhh Tarty! 

Hello chums and happy June to you!

Shitake! It’s basically summer! I hope you’re all ready for holidays abroad, family BBQs and extensive trips to the beach…

…Oh you’re not? Well don’t worry, real life doesn’t allow for those sorts of things anyway – at least not all the time ;)

Actually that’s not entirely true. You see, once you reach the age of retirement you can pretty much do whatever you want and nobody can stop you. My Nan for example only has to walk onto a bus and cough for everybody to then throw themselves onto the floor, offering up their seats as if she were a great deity. She’s not a deity but she is a complete boss. Another perk of being on the planet for longer than most other people is that you can go on lots of holidays if you choose. And I mean Lots.  My grandparents are away for probably 1/3 of the year at least and are currently embarking on their annual trend of being away caravanning at least once a month, every month until the autumn comes.

I meanwhile have been left the confines of the bungalow (a harsh image of reality) and charged with watering the garden plants.

Super.

Oh I’m such a moaning Myrtle, it’s not so bad really and there are even lots of fresh strawberries and rhubarb currently on offer so I guess I have nothing to really complain about – except for the fact that something is repeatedly trying to dig them up. I’m not sure who the pesky fructose fiend is but my suspicions lie with the squirrel who used to taunt me on the washing line…Maude. Stick to your nuts Maude! Does he not know these are my my grandparent’s strawberries?

What a knob.

Anyway not to worry, I have a plan. I’m just going to start harvesting everything before he can get his squirrely paws on it, simple and what better time to begin fruit picking than when you have a good recipe in mind.

Crumble.

For those of you who don’t know. I love crumble – I think it’s deliciously warming, it’s comfortingly cosy and it’s so wonderfully simple to make that I have been known to go through an entire one to myself… in the space of three days. Is that too much crumble? No, there is no such thing.

In fact, I actually think it’s quite acceptable to have crumble for breakfast, especially when it’s made out of wholesome healthy ingredients.

Traditional crumble recipes with all the butter, sugar and refined flour are fine in moderation but as I like to eat it a bit more than ' in moderation' this wouldn’t really be fueling my body correctly. Over the years I have found a few tricks to lighten up one of my favourite deserts and now save my Nan’s buttery, sugar laden puds as treats for when I want to indulge in some classic guiltless comfort. Nout wrong with that!

Here are some of my top tips for crumbling (a term used by many to refer to the act of making a crumble i.e. the crumbler began crumbling away in the kitchen, for everyone knew that crumble was the most respected of all the puds):

• Use a healthy fat source be it coconut oil, rape seed oil or even clarified butter etc and then cut the amount down by ½- 2/3. Replacing the fat with a binder like unsweetened apple sauce can significantly reduce the amount required in a recipe whilst still keeping the crumble topping moist and crumbly preventing it from being too dry.
• Use oat, whole wheat, spelt, buckwheat, coconut or some other whole grain flour as opposed to refined white flour to provide added nutrients and fibre.
• Change how you sweeten up the crumble. I tend to use truvia (as I do with a lot of my cooking) which is a natural sweetener comprised of stevia leaf extract and erythritol (a natural sugar alcohol). It’s not an artificial/chemical based sweetener, is virtually zero calorie and has a much lower glycaemic index for consumers. Other low calorie alternatives to white sugar are xylitol, monk fruit extract or pure stevia extract. Some other more natural sugar alternatives are coconut sugar, maple syrup and raw honey, although bear in mind these have just as much sugar as the regular refined variety but you do get a whole host of nutrient benefits that the plain old white stuff simply lacks.
• Instead of corn flour/starch I now tend to thicken the fruit mix with chia seeds for added omegas, extra fibre (we love the fibre), B vitamins, minerals, protein… the list goes on. Eat chia seeds, they’re awesome.

There we go, we’re now all set to begin crumbling (yay). There is only one slight issue. This time of year when it tends to either get a bit sunnier or instead very muggy, crumbles can be a bit heavy as a desert option. Traditionally they’re more of a autumn/winter dish kind of thing.

Meep.

Don’t worry though, luckily for us crumble is also one of those great foods that can be eaten cold (just like pizza) and are sometimes even better then the warm counterpart.

Hence I decided to make this crumble into a tart/bar format which can be cut up and made portable for picnics and what not. Yes, this crumble is a summer-ised version.

It’s light but filling,

It’s comforting but not heavy,
And I have been most certainly having this for breakfast quite regularly.

I hope you enjoy this crumble, it’s a great way to use up any leftover seasonal fruits or in my case save them from dietary confused tree rodents.

Don’t get me wrong, I love squirrels.

But stay away from my fruit B****!

Ta-ra for now.

Strawberry and Rhubarb Crumble Tart

Serves 6-8

Crumble mix ingredients:

• 2 cups oats flour (just grind up oats in a food processor till flour like, it’s so much cheaper than buying a shop brand) or whole wheat flour.
• ¼ cup truvia or granulated sweetener of choice
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp melted coconut oil
• 1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

Filling ingredients:

• 300g chopped rhubarb
• 200g chopped strawberries
• ¼ cup truvia or sweetener of choice
• ¼ cup water
• 1-2 tbsp chia seeds

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (fan oven) – roughly 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Combine all of the dry crumble ingredients together in one bowl and all of the wet ingredients in another before pressing 2/3 of the mixture into a baking dish lined with parchment paper and sprayed with cooking spray or lightly greased with oil/butter. Set aside.
• In a saucepan over a medium-high heat, combine the water, rhubarb and ¼ cup of truvia stirring well for 5-10 minutes or until the rhubarb has softened and broken down.
• Add in the strawberries and the chia seeds before removing from the heat and allowing to thicken for 5 minutes.
• Top the crumble/dough with the fruit filling and press over the last 1/3 of the crumble on top. You have now made a crumble tart – congratu-well done!
• Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes (keep an eye on it – when the top goes golden brown and slightly darker at the edges, it’s time to pull it out).
• Allow to cool completely (preferably overnight) before cutting into slices/bars and nomming down on. 

Crumble hard my friends, crumble hard.