There’s something about a warm, rich, sweet, fruity crumble that never disappoints, and this Blueberry Shortbread Crumble is no exception. It’s decadent and delicious, and so friggin’ good that people will probably be thinking you bought it at some fancy, shmancy bakery (which is exactly what we want them to think when we bake, right?) Seriously, this crumble is as good or better than anything similar you can get from a store. The crust is rich and delightfully buttery, the blueberries are fresh and bright and the cream cheese filling (yup, it’s got that, too) goes perfectly with the entire thing, which I eat piping hot served with ice cream.
While this recipe is pretty darn far from being “healthy,” I did make a few substitutions that certainly didn’t make anything worse: I used almond flour instead of white flour, raw turbinado sugar instead of white cane sugar, honey instead of even more white sugar, fat free cream cheese instead of the fully-loaded stuff AND I even threw in some Greek yogurt because its 2018 and I’m not sure you can call a recipe “healthy” nowadays without it.
Between the texture of this thing (slightly chewy, crumbly, smooth shortbread crust…warm bursting fruits, granules of sweet, raw sugar, decadent cream cheese) and the flavor (buttery, tart, sugary), it’s the perfect dessert (or breakfast, I’m not here to judge). Just find your stretchy pants (you know you have ’em), add a scoop of ice cream, and plan on going back for seconds.
Ingredients:
For the Crust:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted, room temperature butter
3/4 cup raw turbinado sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups almond flour, sifted
1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 tsp salt
For the Fruit Filling:
3 cups blueberries (or any fruit you like! Strawberries would be great!)
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp raw turbinado sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
For the Cream Cheese Filling:
4 oz fat free cream cheese
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
Directions:
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees and butter and flour an 8×8 baking dish.
To make the crust, cream the butter and sugar until smooth (because of the turbinado sugar garnules, it won’t be completely smooth – that’s ok!), and then stir in the lemon zest and vanilla. Using a mixer, add the almond flour, salt and oats and mix until well combined. Set aside.
To make the fruit filling, combine the blueberries, lemon juice, cornstarch, honey and sugar in a bowl. Set aside.
To make the cream cheese filling, beat the cream cheese and yogurt until smooth. Set aside.
Assemble the crumble by patting down a layer of dough (about 2/3 of the dough) into the baking dish with your fingers. Top that with the evenly spread cream cheese mixture. Spoon the fruit over that, and add the remaining dough on the very top, making sure it covers all of the fruit as much as possible. I like to press some oats into the top of the crumble as well.
Bake for 1 hour, stopping halfway through to gently pat the dish down with a flat spatula. This ensures that the layers remain even.
Allow crumble to set a bit before serving, and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
…………………………………………
Yield: 1 8×8 baking dish
Serving Size: As much as you want, it’s dessert.
Calories: Not that kinda meal. Just enjoy it!
Dietary Info: Not great for ya, but I did manage to keep gluten and meat outta here: Gluten Free. Vegetarian.