How to make a yummy grain-free, sugar-free crumble

I recently posted some pictures on instagram of a keto rhubarb crumble I made and everyone asked me to post the recipe. So here, along with my baking philosophy, it is.

I swap everything around when I bake

For years, in my quest to be healthy, while at the same time loving cake and puddings, I’ve substitiuted ingredients and adapted recipes. I would use gluten free flour instead of regular flour, coconut sugar instead of regular sugar, almond milk instead of regular milk and so on. These days I do a lot of baking with ground almonds in a quest to avoid grains altogether.

Grains are converted in the body to a sugar

This gives a surge to our blood sugar and then is followed by a crash. These blood sugar surges are not good for our health. I do eat grains sometimes but keep it as an occasional treat.

This recipe uses rhubarb and berries but as we move into spring, rhubarb will no longer be in season. Just substitute for anything you like that’s in season. In summer you could do peaches, plums or apples or any other favourite summer fruit. Berries are always a good choice as the sugar content is less.

With this crumble. I decided to try out my recent discovery of monk fruit sugar that I brought back from California. Once again you can substitute with a sugar alternative of your choice. I would suggest granulated stevia. These sugar alternatives tend to be sweeter than regular sugar so you can use less. This type of sugar will keep the crumble sugar-free, carb-free and keto. If you want to use a more regular sugar, I would go for coconut sugar although it will not then be a keto crumble.

Rhubarb and Berries Crumble:

• 200g rhubarb, cut into small chinks
• 200g of berries of your choice
• 300g of ground almonds
• 100g butter
• 10 TBS of granulated stevia or monk fruit
• 5 TBS sliced roasted almond
• 2 TBS vanilla extract
• 100 ml water

Preheat the oven to 160 C. Place the fruits into an oven dish. Sprinkle with 5 of the TBS of stevia and cover with the water. Bake for 30 mins, stirring the fruit after 15 mins to ensure even baking.

While the fruit is in the oven prepare the crumble topping. Place the ground almonds in a bowl and using your fingers, rub the slightly softened butter into the almonds until the mixture resembles wet sand. Add the remaining 5 TBS of stevia and the vanilla extract and mix well.

Remove the fruit from the oven and sprinkle the crumble mixture on top. Add the sliced almonds to the top of the crumble. Set the oven to 180 C and bake for a further 15 mins or until the topping is beginning to brown. Serve while still warm. You could add a little pouring cream (this would still keep it keto) or some dairy free coconut yoghurt that has no sugar added (also keto).

Enjoy!