Jammy Crumble Slice

by Liz Child

These are wonderful treats. A beautiful, buttery shortbread base, a layer of jam (we used our rhubarb and rose jam from last week) and an oaty crumble top. So delicious! Pack up slices to take out on a picnic or over to a friend for tea. You’ll be amazed at how simple the recipe is too. Once you have the 1,2,3 method in your head (100g sugar, 200g butter, 300g flour), perfect biscuits are never far away.

Liz x

Ingredients (makes 18 slices)

  • 100g sugar
  • 200g butter, chopped
  • 300g flour (plain with no raising agents!)
  • a large handful of porridge oats
  • 3 or 4 heaped tbsp jam

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 175C and line a medium baking dish with baking parchment.
  2. Measure the sugar, butter and flour into a food processor or mixing bowl. If using a food processor, blend until the mixture resembles wet, crumbly sand. If you are using a mixing bowl, use the tips of your fingers and rub the ingredients together into an even, crumbly texture.
  3. Take out a large handful or so of the mixture and move it to another bowl to reserve for the crumble topping. With the rest of the mixture, bring it together into a ball either with your hands (in the mixing bowl) or by blending a little longer until it comes together into a ball (in the food processor).
  4. Press the ball into the lined baking dish into an even layer. Use a fork to prick holes over the base then bake in the oven for around 8 minutes or until just starting to take on some golden colour.
  5. Meanwhile add a large handful or so of porridge oats to the reserved crumbly dough and mix together with your hands into the crumble topping.
  6. Remove the shortbread base from the oven and spread with jam then sprinkle with the crumble topping and bake again until golden on top. This should only take another 8 minutes or so but ovens vary so keep a close eye on yours.
  7. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool completely (I like to let it cool and set overnight) before pulling out onto a chopping board and slicing. This keeps fresh in an airtight container in a cool place for 4 days.

Creamy Celeriac Crumble

by Liz Child

This savoury crumble is full of comforting winter vegetables and white beans. The creamy white sauce is made from seasoned oat milk thickened with a little cornflour. The oaty crumble is delicious and buttery (thanks to our new Naturli butter) and spiked with fragrant rosemary (use any winter herbs you like eg thyme or sage). Serve with a simple salad of shaved Brussels sprouts dressed with lemon and good oil. The not-so-secret ingredient which brings the dish together? Nutritional yeast! Fondly referred to as nooch, it brings a moreish, cheesy flavour to the party. What will you put in your savoury crumble?

As it’s gluten free day this week I’ve used certified gluten free oats in the crumble and gluten free Rude Health oat milk in the white sauce. If gluten isn’t an issue for you then of course you don’t need to worry about that, but if you are avoiding gluten then we can help with a range of gluten free groceries, conveniently delivered to your door.

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 6)

  • 1/2 a celeriac, peeled and cubed
  • 1 large leek, washed and chopped
  • 300g mushrooms, halved or quartered
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • 2 tins of white beans, drained

White Sauce

  • 2 tbsp cornflour (or flour of your choice)
  • 2 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • a handful of nutritional yeast
  • salt and pepper to taste (about 1/2 tsp of each)
  • 500ml gluten free oat milk (or any milk you like)

Crumble

  • 250g gluten free porridge oats (or regular oats)
  • 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, stripped from stalk (or any winter herbs you like)
  • salt and pepper to taste – a generous pinch of each
  • a handful of nutritional yeast
  • 100g butter (we use Naturli vegan blocks)

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 200C. Find a baking dish and tumble in your chopped celeriac, leek and mushrooms.
  2. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Mix well then put the dish in the oven to roast the vegetables while you prepare the white sauce and crumble. Remove the dish every 10 minutes to stir.
  3. In a mixing jug, whisk the cornflour, nutritional yeast, nutmeg, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper and a splash of the oat milk into a paste. Then add the rest of the oat milk and whisk into a thin sauce. This will cook and thicken up later in the oven. Put to one side for now.
  4. Make the crumble in a food processor with the blade attachment. Put the oats, rosemary, nooch, salt and pepper into the processor and blend into a rough flour. Chop the butter into cubes, add to the flour mixture and pulse into a crumbly texture.
  5. When the vegetables are cooked through (this should take around 30 minutes) add the drained white beans and sauce. Stir well then top with the crumble and return to the oven for another 20 minutes or until bubbling and golden on top.
  6. Serve with some seasonal greens. We like thinly sliced Brussels sprouts simply dressed with good olive oil and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice for some acidity and freshness to cut through the creamy crumble.

Summer Fruit Crumble Slice

by Liz Child

This fruity number is just the thing to pack into a tin and take round to a friends garden to have with a cuppa! Use any summer fruit you like, berries or stone fruit work well, and it’s best to cook the fruit down with a little maple syrup into a rough ‘jam’. Very soft fruit like strawberries, raspberries or plums could just be sliced and sprinkled raw on top of the biscuit layer before adding the crumble mix, but I do find a more jammy fruit layer helps the crumble mix stick to the biscuit a bit better. I tend to cover the dish in the oven with a baking sheet or a layer of baking parchment during the last 15 minutes or so to prevent it from browning too much. 

Liz 

Many of our organic groceries come packaged without plastic including flour, oats and blueberries!

Ingredients

  • 125g caster sugar
  • 250g butter/margarine
  • 375g plain flour
  • 100g porridge oats
  • 150g fruit
  • maple syrup to taste

Method

  1. Start by cooking 150g fruit in a small pan until just soft and starting to collapse. Taste and sweeten with maple syrup or any sweetener you like (if needed). Then put it to one side to cool while you make the biscuit dough.
  2. Pre-heat the oven to 175C and line a deep baking dish with baking parchment. I used a dish approximately 25x35cm but any medium sized baking dish will do. Just bear in mind, if it’s a smaller dish, the biscuit will be deeper so will need longer in the oven.
  3. Weigh out the butter, sugar and flour into a large mixing bowl. Rub it together with the tips of your fingers until you achieve a wet-beach-sand-like texture that comes together into dough when squeezed. A quicker way to do this is to pulse the ingredients together in a food processor with the ‘S’ blade attachment.
  4. Tip roughly 2/3rds of the dough into the lined dish and press it firmly into a neat, even layer. Ensure you get into the corners of the dish.
  5. Add the oats to the remaining 3rd of the dough and mix into a rough crumble.
  6. Spoon the fruit onto the biscuit layer and then sprinkle the crumble over the top. Lightly pat the crumble into the fruit.
  7. Then bake for approximately 30 minutes at 175C fan. The time can vary depending on your dish size. I tend to cover the dish with a baking sheet or extra piece of parchment for the last 15 minutes or so to prevent the crumble from browning too much. Just keep an eye on it and see if it needs it or not. No two ovens are alike in my experience!
  8. Remove from the oven and allow the biscuit to cool in the dish. Then carefully transfer it to a chopping board and cut it as you like. 
  9. You should end up with a melt-in-the-mouth shortbread base, a fruity layer and a        buttery, oaty, crumbly layer. Delicious!
  10. The biscuits keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for a week. Enjoy!