The Best Rhubarb Crumble

This is the best recipe for rhubarb crumble that I’ve ever made. I was brought up to make crumble the classic way using white flour, with the addition of wholemeal flour sometimes, then every now and again adding in oats. This is radically different because this rhubarb crumble recipe ditches the classic flour altogether and uses a different type of flour altogether.

Yes, it is very simple and uses the bare minimum of ingredients. You can add more flavours/ingredients if you like, but rather than overloading your palate with so much, why not dial it back a bit and enjoy the simplicity? Also, there is sugar in the recipe; if you’re watching your sugar content then you will want to take a smaller portion. Use sugar replacements if you like, but rhubarb works best with plain sugar or honey I’ve found. There is a slight duplication in the ingredients but that’s because they’re listed in the order of use. Read on to get the recipe, advice on how to prepare rhubarb and notes on this naturally gluten free bake.

To prepare rhubarb, remove the leaves at the top of the stalks, shred, and pop them into the compost bin. The leaves are toxic, never use the leaves of rhubarb. Wash and pat try the stalks. The delicate pink ends are edible but you might want to trim off any brown bits as they aren’t a nice texture. The chunks should be about the size of a halved cherry tomato for this recipe.

I use a large oven proof baking dish to bake the crumble in. It’s 12cm in diameter. Use a roasting tin if you prefer.

A photo posted by Caitriona Redmond (@wholesomeireland) on Apr 24, 2016 at 7:10am PDT

[recipe title=”Rhubarb Crumble” servings=”4-6″ time=”1 hr” difficulty=”easy”]

INGREDIENTS

• 3 large stalks of rhubarb, chopped into small chunks
• 50g caster sugar
• 100g oat flour
• 50g butter, cut into small cubes
• 50g caster sugar
• 50g jumbo oats
• 25g sunflower seeds
• 25g pumpkin seeds

METHOD

Preheat your (fan assisted) oven to 170 degrees Celsius.

Put the chopped rhubarb and the first 50g of sugar into the baking dish. Stir so that the sugar coats the rhubarb pieces.

Into a large mixing bowl put the oat flour and butter. Making sure your hands are clean, use the tips of your fingers to rub the butter and flour together until you get a breadcrumb like texture. *note you might find that the ratio of butter and flour makes it a bit ‘chunky’, that’s fine it will balance out in the end. Add the sugar and rub the mixture together again. Finally, add the jumbo oats and seeds, then stir well so that all the crumble ingredients are combined.

Loosely sprinkle the crumble on top of the rhubarb in the dish. Never, ever press a crumble mixture down, it depends on the air you introduce to make it light and crisp! If you’re not a fan of thick crumble then only sprinkle half the mixture on top of the fruit and put the rest in the freezer for another day. Crumble mixture freezes extremely well and this is suitable for any fruit crumble, not just rhubarb.

Bake the crumble in the oven for 25-45 minutes, removing when the top of the crumble turns golden brown.

I like to serve mine warm with some vanilla yoghurt but you might prefer custard, cream, ice cream, or all three![/recipe]

NOTES ON GLUTEN FREE

The beauty of this crumble is that it’s naturally without gluten, which is important if you’re following a gluten-free diet. If you’re a coeliac (or are cooking for one) and want to adapt this recipe, the only thing you need to do is ensure that you use certified gluten-free version of the ingredients. Remember it’s not quite as simple as buying ingredients that are naturally without gluten as they may have been processed alongside unsuitable products; this can still cause a reaction for coeliacs.

This recipe has not been designed to be gluten free. It’s made with oat products because that’s what makes for the best rhubarb crumble in my book!

PRODUCTS USED

Rhubarb was from my own allotment. Butter was Kerrygold, oats were Flahavan’s, oat flour was Food By Nature Artisan Millers (you can buy this in SuperValu in the Food Academy area), sugar was Siúcra, the seeds used were Lidl own brand, and the yoghurt pictured is Glenisk. All products mentioned are personal endorsements and I purchased these items myself.

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