Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Strawberry & Almond Crumble with Sweetened Yogurt--A Great Warm Weather Dessert


For the past several weeks, there has been a little bag of local strawberries in my CSA box. They are tiny little berries, but are usually pretty sweet. Sometimes I eat them plain, or I dip them in chocolate, and when I saw the cover of Delicious Magazine's February 2009 issue, I couldn't resist, I had to make this Strawberry & Almond Crumble with Creme Fraiche. The roasted strawberries sounded interesting and good, so with a few healthier changes, such as replacing the creme fraiche with some lightly-sweetened non-fat Greek yogurt, I made enough for a couple of small desserts.


Strawberry & Almond Crumble with Creme Fraiche 
Delicious Magazine, February 2009
(Serves 6-8)

3/4 cup (110g) plain flour
3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar
3/4 cup (120g) blanched almonds
pinch of salt
90g (about 6.5 Tbsp) unsalted butter, chopped
4 x 250g (9 oz) punnets strawberries, hulled 
icing sugar (powdered sugar) to dust
baby basil leaves and creme fraiche to serve

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. (350 degrees F.) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pulse the flour, sugar, nuts and a pinch of salt in a food processor until the nuts are coarsely chopped. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture starts to clump. Spread in a single, thin layer on the sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes, stirring once, until golden and crispy. Set aside. 


Increase the oven to 220 degrees C. (425 degrees F.). Place the strawberries in a baking dish and roast for about 6 minutes or until they are just tender.


To serve, divide the warm berries among bowls, top with the crumble mixture, then dust with icing sugar, sprinkle with basil leaves and serve with a dollop of creme fraiche.


Notes/Results: Delicious! Roasting the strawberries sweetens them and the crumble is nice and light. To make it healthier, I swapped out the plain flour and added whole grain pastry flour. I also slightly reduced the amount of sugar and butter. I didn't have baby basil, so I just did a chiffonade of regular basil. My favorite part? The sweetened Greek yogurt--I just added a little vanilla and a tiny bit of honey to some Greek yogurt. So good it may become my new fruit dip. One note, maybe it was because I made a smaller amount, but my crumble topping was brown in about 18 minutes; any more and I think it would have been too dark, so watch the timing. This is a fun recipe for strawberry season and a keeper recipe. I think it will be fun to play around with other fruits too.

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14 comments:

  1. I would have never thought to roast strawberries, this sounds delicious!

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  2. I love that the strawberries are roasted. Wild!
    Looks totally delicious.

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  3. I have never encountered roasted strawberries before, but it makes sense that they would become sweeter since roasting tends to sweeten most veggies by caramelizing them. This is exactly the kind of dessert that I love!

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  4. Wow, roasting the strawberries sounds like an amazing idea! I know I would love this!

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  5. This looks gorgeous! I'll have to try "roasted" strawberries as soon as our local crop comes in.

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  6. I love strawberry season! That is good to know that almonds do well in a crumble. Whenever I use nuts for topping, they seem to cook way too fast.

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  7. This sounds incredible Deb - light, refreshing, and healthy. I am so intrigued by the roasted strawberries!

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  8. This is a creative recipe with strawberries. I can't wait to try roased strawberries.

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  9. Mmmmmmm, really good stuff here! The strawberries look really fresh and vibrant.

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  10. Sweetened Greek yogurt is my new favorite dessert. It's just so delicious - and I'm going to try roasting strawberries, it sounds so easy and a great way to bring out the flavor.

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  11. I love Greek yogurt with a little bit of honey too. And roasted strawberries? Yum!!!! This is a sweet little treat!

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  12. oh wow, that looks like a perfect summery desert!

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  13. I just used the last of this week's strawberries in some muffins, but I've bookmarked this!

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  14. Wow! That looks fantastic! I usually make my crumble topping with oats and wholemeal flour for the nuttier flavour.

    I usually think cooking strawberries ruins the flavour, but I can just see how roasting them would work!

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