Crumble Oat Topping

This crumble oat topping is great to have in your recipe repertoire. It’s vegan, gluten free and perfect once baked for topping Greek yoghurt or ice cream. It’s also great for topping classics such as fruit crumbles, muffins or coffee cakes.

It adds a sweet, crunchy texture to whatever dessert you choose to sprinkle it on top of. Takes less than 10 minutes to prepare with a few simple ingredients and the oven does the rest of the work!

I am not sure what says comfort food more than a delicious fruit crumble and this vegan crumble topping can be enjoyed by all the family! This recipe is even great served for breakfast as granola. For a few addition ideas, check out my variations section.

If you like the sound of this crumble topping, try it on my strawberry and rhubarb crumble recipe.

If you decide to give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment below and rate it – it’s really helpful to me and other readers knowing what you think! And don’t forget to take a picture and tag me @thegourmetlarder or hashtag it #thegourmetlarder on Instagram or Facebook. I love seeing what you’ve been baking! 🙂

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RECIPE HIGHLIGHTS

• EASE: simple and can be made in advance.
• FREE FROM: this recipe is egg-free, dairy-free and gluten-free.
• VERSATILITY: topping crumbles, pies, muffins and ice cream or even as granola for breakfast.
• TASTE & TEXTURE: just the right sweetness and deliciously crunchy and crisp.
• QUANTITY: 400g
• TIME: 31 minutes

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INGREDIENTS

For this recipe all you need are these ingredients:

• Chickpea flour – makes a great alternative to gluten flours and adds a great taste to the finished recipe.

• Whole oats – I prefer to use whole oats as they add texture.

• Flaked almonds – add both flavour and texture. Alternatively, they can be left out.

• Light brown sugar – has a strong molasses flavour and is not as sweet as white sugar, perfect for creating crunch with a caramel hint.

• Vanilla extract or paste – adds flavour and enhances the other ingredient flavours. (optional)

– Vanilla recommendations: pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste or vanilla pods.

• Coconut oil – helps to create that crunch.

Coconut oil recommendations: Biona Organic coconut oil 875 ml, Rainforest Foods organic virgin coconut oil 1litre, Sevenhills Wholefoods 1litre organic extra virgin raw coconut oil (cold-pressed)

• Water – is used to bind the chickpea flour and other ingredients.

TIP: I highly recommend adding a good pinch of salt to your desserts. Salt helps balance out the sweetness and richness. It also elevates the other ingredients, bring out the best characteristics of any recipe. In a seemingly absurd or contradictory way, salt intensifies the mouths ability to taste sweetness. It is the sodium that sends signals to move glucose into the sweet taste receptor cells in our tongue. The result is that salt not only alerts our ‘salt sensitivity’, but also our ‘sweet sensitive’ taste buds. I recommend Maldon Sea salt flakes or Cornish sea salt.

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SUBSTITUTIONS

While I am making recommendations for alternative ingredients, I haven’t necessarily tried them. If you try making any adaptions, I would love to know how you get on and share it with the other readers.

SUGAR-FREE AND LOW-CALORIE OPTIONS

• Sugar-free or calorie reduced options: try alternatives such as coconut sugar, honey, natural erythritol, xylitol, stevia or fructooligosaccharide powder instead. There are also sweetener mixes available, that are 70% calorie reduced and low in carb.

• Brown sugar suggestions: Pure Via Baker’s soft brown sugar or Sukrin Gold’s natural brown sugar alternative.

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WHAT VARIATIONS CAN I MAKE?

• Flour alternatives – this recipe is gluten free but if you are not on a gluten free diet, then I can recommend a slightly different recipe. Dice 50g of butter and place in a mixing bowl with 50g of plain or all-purpose flour. Rub together with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then add 50g light brown sugar, 30g whole oats and 25g flaked almonds. Mix it all together and scrunch a little to add a little texture.

• Almond’s alternatives – if you don’t want to include nuts they can simply be left out. Alternatively, try the recipe with hazelnuts or walnuts. It is best if the nuts are broken into large pieces and not powdered as it’s nice to have some texture in the crumble. To break the nuts up, simply place them in a clean kitchen towel and gently hit them with a rolling pin.

• Spices – can add all sorts of different dimensions in taste. I love adding a teaspoon of ground ginger in the winter months. Other great additions include cinnamon, nutmeg or even black pepper.

• Citrus tang – can be added by zesting a lemon or orange peel into the mixture.

• Chocolate – adding dark chocolate chips to the crumble mix is just another great option.

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NUTRITION

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STORAGE AND FREEZING

You can make this crumble ahead of time or alternatively, store it in an airtight container for up to a week. If you use it on top of fruit or a similar dessert the moisture in the fruit will cause the topping to lose its crunchiness over a short period of time. To resolve this you can place it in a preheated oven for a few minutes.

Freezing: You can freeze this crumble topping before baking but it won’t be quite as crisp and crumbly as when you first made it. Plus, it’s so quick to make I don’t think it’s necessary to freeze.

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TOOLS YOU’LL NEED

Here is a list of some kitchen equipment that I use and recommend for this recipe.

• Earthenware Mixing Bowl Mason Cash, Cream 29 cm Chip Resistant.

I like the sturdiness of this bowl and its 4 litre capacity means I can use it for mixing just about everything in the kitchen. It is also microwave, freezer and dishwasher safe.

• Mixing Bowls Set of 5, Stainless Steel Nesting Bowls with Airtight Lids, 3 Grater Attachments, Size 5, 3, 2, 1.5, 0.63 QT

These different size mixing bowls are really useful depending on the amount of food you are preparing. They also have airtight lids that fit snugly to seal and keep food fresh, great for using as dry storage bowls with lids. The plastic lid of the largest bowl has a removable centre, where one of 3 graters can be used for grating cheese or vegetables.

• 3 Plastic Mixing Bowls, Non-Slip Base, Soft Grip Handle, Microwave and Dishwasher Safe, Compact, Stackable, Ideal for baking and cooking, off-white, 1.5 Litre, 2 Litre, 2.5 Litre.

I do own a plastic mixing bowl but I am personally not a big fan of them. These 3 bowls are on the smaller size but good for the odd cake making.

• Milk Saucepan, 1 Litre With Double Sided Pouring Lips

This small pan is a great size for boiling small amounts of liquids and it has pouring lips built into the rim of the saucepan which makes it easy to use.

• Non-Stick Brownie Pan, 29.4 x 19.1 x 4 cm, Professional Gauge Carbon Steel with Eclipse Premium Non-Stick Coating

Ideal pan for tray bakes, brownies and flapjacks.

Please check out my Shop for a curated collection of some of my favourite baking equipment. The Gourmet Larder is an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

TIP: I highly recommend using metric measurements and a digital kitchen scale, rather than cup measurements. If you have ever ended up with dry, dense or crumbly baked goods, it might be because of inaccurate volume measurements, not all measuring cups are made equally. All my recipes on this blog are carefully developed so that you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success, using metric measurements. It is also a lot easier, less messy and you will get far better, consistent results. 🙂
If you are interested in understanding conversions, here you will find the best conversion chart.

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RECIPE TIPS

Adding the right amount of water – if you don’t add enough the mixture will look more like saw dust and will not form clumps that give you that crunchy texture.

Baking – the crumble is easy. If you are making it as a topping for ice cream etc, remember it will continue to get crunchier as it cools down after baking.

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