Strawberry Almond Crumble

Strawberry almond crumble pairs our favorite sweet red berries with a buttery almond oatmeal topping that also happens to be gluten-free. And since it's so quick and easy, this is the perfect dessert to make for your sweeties today for Valentine's Day.

I was probably five or six years old when I first tasted a crumble. We lived in Pointe-a-Pierre, the Texaco “camp” in Trinidad where all the employees lived with their families. I suppose there were plenty of Americans but the houses on either side of us were English and Scottish. And being a former British colony, that influence was everywhere else on the island too.

Crumble, I discovered, is the simplest of desserts: Fruit topped with sugar, flour and butter and baked till golden. Over the years, I’ve challenged that recipe by mixing more than one fruit together – apple and rhubarb is a traditional and family favorite – and adding extras to the crumble, like today’s slivered almonds and oatmeal. Added bonus: when you need a gluten-free dessert, this is an excellent option.

The best part of crumbles is that they can be baked and served hot. Or baked ahead and served cold, at room temperature or even rewarmed. Like all crumbles, this strawberry almond crumble is the most forgiving of desserts.

Strawberry Almond Crumble

Do feel free to mix up the fruits with whatever is seasonal for you. If your fruit is more tart, you can add a little extra sugar to the filling. Sweeter fruit might need less sugar.

Ingredients
For the filling:
1 1/2 lbs or 560g fresh or frozen strawberries (hulled)
1/4 cup or 50g caster sugar
1/4 cup or 25g almond meal
2 tablespoons Pimm’s No. 3 Cup or alcohol of your choice - optional
1 tablespoon minute tapioca
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the crumble topping:
2/3 cup or 50g 5-minute oatmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup or 60g slivered almonds
1/2 cup or 100g demerara sugar
5 tablespoons or 70g cold butter (diced) plus a little extra for buttering deep pie dish

To serve: whipping or thick pouring cream

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and butter a deep pie dish with butter.

In a large mixing bowl, toss together the hulled strawberries with the rest of the filling ingredients.

Pour the filling into the buttered dish and spread it around evenly.

Mix all of the crumble ingredients together stir.

Use a pastry blender or even a food processor on pulse to cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients until just combined. Do not over process into a paste.

Sprinkle the crumble on top of the filling.

Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes for fresh fruit or 50-55 minutes if you are using frozen.

Start checking for bubbling filling about 30-40 minutes in. Once it is bubbling, bake for about 10 minutes more. You need the filling to boil and bubble to help it activate the tapioca and cornstarch so it will thicken up.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

If you are baking this a day or two before you are serving, cool the crumble completely, cover it with cling film and refrigerate. You can serve the crumble warmed in the microwave or oven but I must say that some folks love it cold.

Whether warm or cold, at our house, crumble is served with thick whipping cream. I suggest you do the same.

Enjoy!

This Sunday which is also Valentine's Day, of course, we are sharing dishes that would be great for your celebration. Check out all the goodness below. Many thanks to our host, Rebekah of Making Miracles. 

• Beet-Kissed Savory Goat Cheese Truffles by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Chocolate Chip Strawberry Cake Mix Cookies by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Chocolate Dipped Strawberries by Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Grilled Grapes & Paneer Sticks by Sneha's Recipe
• Salmon with Peach Salsa by Making Miracles
• Strawberry Almond Crumble by Food Lust People Love
• Watermelon Mousse by Mayuri's Jikoni
• Wild Rice Stuffed Pork Tenderloin by A Day in the Life on the Farm

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Granola Brownie Bundt #BundtBakers

When you are looking for a dessert you can also eat for breakfast, consider this granola brownie Bundt! It’s full of good stuff like dried cranberries, toasted almonds and crunchy granola, in a thick brownie batter.

My favorite granola used to be available here in Dubai before my nearby supermarket was bought out by another big chain. Unlike my other favorite cereal (Post Spoon-size Honey Nut Shredded Wheat) which has been discontinued, the Quaker granola is still available in two places I travel to regularly. So, depending on baggage allowance, I usually come home with two or three boxes. The cardboard part goes in the recycle bin and the bags of cereal inside get popped in the deep freezer so the almonds won’t turn rancid. The granola stays fresh for months, perfect no matter how long it takes me to eat it all.

Since we found out we were moving, I’ve been trying to eat it more often but I still have a bag and a quarter to get through and only a couple of weeks left in Dubai.

Fortunately my efforts to use up the contents of my freezer and cupboards were aided by our Bundt Bakers’ host, Felice of All That's Left Are The Crumbs. She chose Breakfast Cereals as our theme/ingredient of choice. Along with the granola, I used dried cranberries and almonds, also from the freezer. It was a good day.

Granola Brownie Bundt

I adapted this recipe from one on the King Arthur flour website for brownie bars kingarthurflour.com/recipes/granola-brownie-bars-recipe and baked it in a 6-cup Bundt pan.

Ingredients
1 cup or 125g flour, plus extra for the pan
1/4 cup or 22g extra dark cocoa (I use Hershey’s Special Dark.)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 113g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for the pan
1 cup or 200g brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup or 100g granola
1/2 cup or 70g dried cranberries (no sugar added, preferably)
1/2 cup or 65g chopped almonds, toasted in a dry pan

Optional for decorating:
3-4 tablespoon Nutella, warmed in microwave
Extra toasted almonds, dried cranberries and granola

Method
Preheat the oven to 325°F and 163°C. Prepare your 6-cup Bundt pan by buttering and flouring it.

Measure your flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl and set it aside. In another large mixing bowl, use a mixer or electric beater to beat together the butter and sugar until they are fluffy.

Add the first egg and beat well.

Add the second egg and beat well again.

Pour in the vanilla and beat again.

Use a flour sifter or strainer to sift half of the dry ingredients into the batter.

Beat well to combine. Sift the other half in and beat well again.

Fold in the granola, dried cranberries and toasted chopped almonds.

Spoon the thick batter into your prepared Bundt pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes. Leave to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn the brownie Bundt out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

After it was cool, I wanted to decorate mine so I warmed a few tablespoons of Nutella with a quick couple of zaps in the microwave, then used a pastry brush to apply it to the Bundt. I drizzled some on the top of the cake and then sprinkled the top with almonds, cranberries and granola. You can, of course, eat this granola brownie Bundt plain as well.

Cut into wedges to serve.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to this month's host, Felice of All That's Left Are The Crumbs for the great theme and her behind the scenes work. Check out all the fun Breakfast Cereal Bundts we've baked for you today!

• Breakfast Mini Bundts from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Cinnamon Frosted Flakes Bundt Cake from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Granola Brownie Bundt from Food Lust People Love
• Grape-Nuts Bundt Cake from Passion Kneaded
• Honeycomb Cereal Bundt Cake from Patty's Cake
• Mixed Cereal Upside Down Pineapple Bundt from Sneha's Recipe
• Oatmeal Bundtlets with Granola Topping from Sweet Sensations

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

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Kalo Prama - Cypriot Semolina Cake #BakingBloggers

Kalo prama, καλό πράγμα in the original Greek, translates as “good stuff.” I can assure you that this Cypriot semolina cake is indeed very good stuff! The batter is easy and a lemon syrup adds even more flavor and a delightful stickiness that makes it hard to stop with just one slice.

Years and years ago, when I was in university, one of my best friends was a brilliant dark-haired girl with the widest smile and a wicked laugh. She was from Cyprus, a place I was completely unfamiliar with. Her small island nation was in still in upheaval after being invaded by Turkish forces in the mid-1970s, so she had been sent to study in the United States.

I’ve thought about her often over the years, especially just a couple of years ago when I planned a trip to Cyprus for a family holiday. I searched the student records at the University of Texas to see if I could find her whole name but without much luck. It is one of my deepest regrets that we lost touch.

While there is still a physical border between the Turkish held northeast and the Greek southwest, Cyprus is finally safe to visit. It is possible to cross over but we stayed on the Greek side in a gorgeous multilevel house built into a cliff, with a fabulous view of the sea. By day we explored the tourist sites, visited grocery stores and roadside stands (my favorite thing to do no matter where I go!) and in the evening we cooked tasty local ingredients for suppers at home and enjoyed the pool and view.

This special cake was on all the lunch menus, in all the local restaurants.

Kalo Prama or Cypriot Semolina Cake

I must confess: The pistachios are not traditional. Most recipes call for blanched almonds to decorate kalo prama. I’ve been trying to use the contents of my freezer and I could not resist adding the colorful pistachios instead of plain white almonds that I would have had to go out and buy. By all means use almonds if you have them. My recipe is adapted from one at SBS.au.

Ingredients
For the cake batter:
1/2 cup or 100g sugar
1/2 cup or 113g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup or 185g fine semolina
1 cup or 125g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten

For the syrup:
1 cup or 200g sugar
1/3 cup or 90ml water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Optional to decorate: blanched almonds or pistachio slivers

Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. Line a loaf pan with baking parchment.

To make the cake batter, whisk the butter and sugar together until light and creamy.

Add in the semolina, flour, vanilla and salt. Mix well. Finally, beat in the eggs until completely combined.

Spoon the batter into your prepared baking pan and smooth out the top.

Top with almonds or slivered pistachios, if desired.

Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into middle of cake comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, make the syrup by warming all of the ingredients in a small pot, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside to cool.

As I was researching recipes, I came across this piece of advice from the Greek Food Alchemist: “Another big tip when adding syrup to a Greek or Cypriot dessert is to always have one cold. So if your cake is hot your syrup should be cold and vice versa. If both are hot then the dessert will crumble before your eyes beyond salvation (based on personal experience!)”

When your cake is finished baking, pour a little cool syrup over the hot cake. Once it has soaked in, add a bit more and wait for it to soak in. Repeat until all of the syrup is absorbed.

Leave to cool completely, then slice to serve.

Enjoy!

This month my Baking Blogger friends are sharing Greek, Cypriot or Turkish recipes. Make sure you check them all out! Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm.

• Alevropita (Greek Thin-Batter Feta Pie) from Tara's Multicultural Table 
• Apricot Sekerpare (Turkish Thumbprint Cookies) from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Baked Kabak Mücver from Sneha's Recipe 
• Bougatsa from Simply Inspired Meals 
• Cypriot Lamb Tavas from Pandemonium Noshery 
• Flaounes (Cypriot Cheese Pastries) from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Kalo Prama - Cypriot Semolina Cake from Food Lust People Love 
• Kreatopita from A Day in the Life on the Farm 
• Sekerpare from The Schizo Chef  
• Simit (Turkish Sesame Bagels) from Karen's Kitchen Stories 
• Tiropita (Greek cheese pastries) from Caroline's Cooking

Baking Bloggers is a friendly group of food bloggers who vote on a shared theme and then post recipes to fit that theme one the second Monday of each month. If you are a food blogger interested in joining in, inquire at our Baking Bloggers Facebook group. We'd be honored if you would join us in our baking adventures.

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Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies

Peppermint dough and mint chocolate swirls or peppermint glaze - or both! - make these pretty peppermint pinwheel cookies. They are perfect for your Christmas table or cookie exchange.
 




It wouldn't be Christmas without some cookies, right? And peppermint is an essential Christmas flavoring so I decided to put those two things together!

These peppermint pinwheel cookies are actually quite easy to make, although there is some waiting while the dough firms up, (See note below.) so do plan accordingly. They are the perfect size for popping in your mouth every time you pass the cookie plate but since the recipe makes 5 dozen, that shouldn't create a problem. With mint glaze and melted chocolate drizzled on them, they are sure to be everyone's new favorite Christmas cookie.

Note: Like any cookie dough that needs to be rolled out before cutting, the process will be easier if your dough has time to chill in the refrigerator. Plan on at least an hour of chilling time before rolling it out and four hours in the freezer before baking. Or make the dough a day or two before you plan to bake. It will keep beautifully, well-wrapped in cling film in your freezer.

Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies

These peppermint pinwheel cookies are adapted from this filled cookie recipe on My Recipes.

Ingredients for about 5 dozen + cookies
For the dough:

1/2 cup or 113g butter, softened
1 cup or 200g sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups or 220g flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon red food coloring paste for red half (I use Wilton no taste red.)
1/2 teaspoon mint extract for white half

For the peppermint glaze:
1/2 cup or 65g powdered sugar
2 teaspoons milk
1/2 teaspoon mint extract
Pinch salt

For the mint chocolate drizzle:
1 3/4 oz or 50g mint dark chocolate bar (I used half a Lindt bar.)

Method
Cream the butter and sugar together with your electric mixer, beating until light and fluffy.

Scrape the bowl down with a rubber spatula then add the egg and vanilla, beating until blended, scraping bowl again as needed.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beating at a low speed until blended.

Set aside half of the dough. (Mine weighed 598g so I took out 299g. Scale users unite!) If you don't have a kitchen scale, eyeball it.

Knead food coloring paste into remaining portion of dough while wearing rubber gloves or, if you are so fortunate, use the K-beater in your stand mixer to combine the two. Cover the dough with cling film and chill for at least one hour.

Knead the mint extract into the other half of the dough, or once again, use your stand mixer to combine the two. Cover the dough with cling film and chill for at least one hour.

Once chilled, roll each half into a 12- x 8-inch or 31x20cm rectangle between two pieces of baking parchment or waxed paper. Check out this great video from Crazy For Crust, to see how to do it. Just stop before you start cutting out cookies.

Once you have them rolled out, trim the rounded edges and neaten up your rectangles with a sharp knife.

Put the parchment or wax paper back on top and use your rolling pin and very little pressure to stick those pieces to the bigger piece again.

Peel one side of the parchment or wax paper off of each rectangle and lay one rectangle of dough on top of the other and press down gently so they stick together. Peel the paper off the top. Save the parchment paper because you can use it again for wrapping the dough and then baking.

Cut the double rectangle in half lengthwise to create two long equal rectangles.

I decided to roll one half up with the peppermint dough on the inside and one with the red dough on the inside, so I flipped one over, but you can make them all one way or the other.

Use a piece of the parchment or some cling wrap to help you roll the two dough rectangles up tightly, from the long end, so you end up with two long skinny tubes.

Wrap these again in parchment or cling film and freeze for several hours.

When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare a couple of cookie sheets by lining them with baking parchment or silicone mats.

Cut the rough ends off of one log, leaving the other in the freezer, then slice the log into circles. Depending on where you stand on the subject of eating raw egg (and now flour!) you can discard the ends or eat them.

Place them on the prepared cookie sheets with a couple of inches or at least five centimeters between them. As you will see, mine were too close so many of them spread out enough to join together.

Bake for 7-8 minutes or until puffed and set.

Cool cookies on baking sheets for several minutes and then remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Repeat with the other dough log until all the cookies are baked and cooled.

Mix up the glaze ingredients and set aside. When you are ready to decorate, put the glaze in a plastic bag and cut off a very small corner so you can pipe the glaze onto the cookies.

Or melt the mint chocolate in a microwaveable vessel, 15-second zaps at a time, stirring well between each zap. Use a piping bag to drizzle on the chocolate. You can use a plastic bag for the chocolate as well but I find the proper piping bags are easier to handle with warm chocolate.

Enjoy!

This week my Sunday Supper friends are sharing their favorite cookie recipes for Christmas. There are so many I'd like to try! Check out the list below.

Traditional and Tasty Cookies to Share

• Candied Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal Cookies by Soulfully Made
• Cherry Chocolate Pistachio Cookies by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Chewy Pumpkin Sugar Cookies by Pies and Plots
• Coconut-Key Lime Thumbprint Cookies by Gourmet Everyday
• Cranberry Pistachio Shortbread Cookies by Jersey Girl Cooks
• Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies by Our Good Life
• German Ginger Cookies (Ingwerplätchen) by Caroline’s Cooking
• Hot Cocoa Cookies by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Italian Rainbow Cookies by April Golightly
• Orange Cardamom Cookies by Sunday Supper Movement
• Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies by Food Lust People Love
• Pumpkin Molasses Cookies by Fantastical Sharing of Recipes
• Spiced Persimmon Cookies with Figs by The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Toffee Cookies by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks

Fun and Festive Cookie Alternatives

• Best Ever No Bake Eggnog Truffles by Bites of Wellness
• Cappuccino Crinkles by A Little Fish in the Kitchen
• Chocolate Coated Krispy Peanut Butter Balls by Positively Stacey
• Cranberry Date Bars by Palatable Pastime
• Healthy Magic Cookie Bars by Simple and Savory
• Peppermint Pizzelle by Eat, Drink & Be Tracy
• Rainbow Biscotti Cubes by What Smells So Good?

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Brown Sugar Banana Bundt Cake #BundtBakers

This delectable Brown Sugar Banana Bundt Cake also boasts browned butter in the batter! If you've never tried browned butter in a cake, prepare yourself. You are about to fall in love with the rich flavor it adds.

This month my Bundt Bakers group is sharing "back to school" cake recipes that slice up nicely and/or freeze well so that they are great in lunch boxes. One of my girls’ favorite treats when they were still at home was a light and fluffy banana cake straight from our favorite family cookbook, the 1980 edition of Good Housekeeping.

I can’t tell you if it freezes well, although though there is no reason it should not, but it never lasted long enough. I can tell you that it wraps up nicely for a snack at recess or lunch. For this month’s bake, I decided to take that original recipe and kick it up a flavor notch or two by browning the butter and switching out the white sugar for brown.

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups or 280g flour, plus a little for flouring pan
1 1/4 cups or 250g sugar
1 1/2 cups (3-4) well-ripened bananas
1/2 cup or 115g butter, softened, plus a little extra for greasing pan
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 1/2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda or bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C and grease and flour a 10-cup Bundt pan. Here's an affiliate link to the pan that I used: Nordic Ware Jubilee Bundt. Isn't it a beauty?

Heat the butter in a small pot until it starts to brown. Remove from heat immediately and set aside to cool. Full instructions can be found here at The Cooking Actress. The talented Kayle has been my mentor in all things browned butter.

Into large bowl mixing bowl, put your peeled bananas.  Give them a quick whirl to mash. Add in the eggs and beat again briefly.

Now measure all the other ingredients onto the bowl.  With mixer at low speed, beat until well mixed, scraping the bowl often.

Now beat on high for five minutes, occasionally stopping to scrape the bowl again. Pour batter into your prepared pan.

 Bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.

Cool your Bundt cake for 10 minutes and then turn it out of pan.

Serve sprinkled with confectioners’ or powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to this month’s host, Wendy from A Day in the Life on a Farm for her behind the scenes work and for choosing such a fun theme. Check out all the back to school Bundts we are sharing today:

• Applesauce Bundt Cake from I love Bundt Cakes
• Autumn Honey Apple Bake & Slice Bundt Cake from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Brown Sugar Banana Bundt Cake from Food Lust People Love
• Hummingbird Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze from Love and Confections
• Morning Glory Bundt Cake with Yogurt & Granola Topping from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Peanut Butter and Jam Bundt Cake from The Queen of Scones
• Persimmon Pudding Cake from Sneha's Recipe
• Pistachios, Blueberries and White Chocolate Bundt Cake from Bizcocheando
• Sesame Seed Bundt Cake from Katin špajz
• Twinkie Bundt Cake from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Zebra Bundt Cake from Patty's Cake

 

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on the BundtBakers home page.

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