Individual Berry Crumbles

My mom has always loved Nigella Lawson's jumble berry crumble recipe. So from time to time I make a crumble mixture and leave it in the freezer so I can toss it on top of a ramekin of frozen berries and have dessert with almost no effort. Generally, I do this in the winter since I serve it hot out of the oven.

But then I thought about it and realized that a crumble would be the perfect use for fresh berries that were maybe getting a little sad. My cousin was coming over for dinner so I needed a gluten free dessert and my strawberries weren't fresh enough for Eton mess (the dessert I'd planned to make). What a perfect opportunity to test my theory.



Now I just had to make the crumble topping gluten free. I used a bit off gluten-free oat flour, some gluten-free oats (not all oats are truly gluten-free--I recommend Bob's Red Mill for gluten-free oats), and some almond flour in addition to the usual Demerara sugar and butter. It was delicious...I think I like it more than the glutinous mixture!

To serve, I baked chopped strawberries and whole blueberries tossed with a bit of corn starch and topped with the crumble mixture in oven safe tea cups. That was going to be it, but my cousin asked if I had any pouring cream...I didn't. I had whipped cream but that doesn't stand up to heat very well. So I decided on a dolloping plain yogurt on top. It was better than cream! The tang of the yogurt cut through the sweet berries and it didn't dilute the berry juices as cream would have done. Overall a very successful kitchen improv--I just wish I'd written down the exact quantities of the ingredients I used in the crumble...oops!