These layered plum crumbles were inspired by a stand of delicious looking organic plums I found in the supermarket and a recipe I saw in a recent Cuisine Magazine. This is a slightly healthier twist on Cuisine’s recipe, and it’s also dairy, gluten and refined sugar free.

I’ve served these little desserts at a couple of dinners over the last few weeks and we’ve also been enjoying them as a quick week night after dinner treat. They’re a great throw together dessert that you can prep well ahead of time and have on hand for those unexpected occasions.

The vanilla and cardamom roasted plums are simply baked in the oven. I love this cooking method as apart from being quick and easy, the plums hold their shape nicely and you get a lovely syrup from their juices. All you need to do is halve the plums, remove the stones and place in a baking dish with a little water, vanilla, cardamom pods and sweetener if desired. While the plums are baking you can prepare the crumble.

The nut crumble is a healthier version of a traditional crumble topping. I used nuts and seeds, a little coconut oil, a little sweetener and some spices. The baked nut crumble keeps well in a sealed container in the pantry so if you have any left over it’s delicious with yoghurt or sprinkled over any other type of stone fruit.

To assemble the plum crumbles simply layer up the plums and nut crumble in serving glasses, dollop a little yoghurt on top and drizzle with a spoonful of fresh passionfruit.

Enjoy!

Vanilla and Cardamom Roasted Plums

12 red flesh plums (omega or black doris are great)
2 Tbsp rice syrup or raw honey (optional)
1 tsp vanilla powder
4 cardamom pods, cracked
1/2 cup water

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Wash the plums, cut in half and remove the stones. Place the plums in a large baking dish and sprinkle over the sweetener if using, vanilla and cardamom pods. Pour the water over and place the dish in the centre of the oven to bake for approximately 20 minutes. The plums should be soft but still holding their shape and the liquid will have turned red. Remove the plums from the oven and set aside to cool.

Nut Crumble

1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup brazil nuts
1/2 cup pecans
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup coconut sugar, rice syrup or raw honey
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
2 pinches of himalayan pink salt

Place all the ingredients except the coconut oil in a food processor and blend until the nuts are broken down into large chunks. Unless you like a really fine crumble aim to keep the nuts reasonably chunky so the crumble has a good texture. Pour the melted coconut oil in and pulse until just mixed. Spread the nut crumble onto a lined baking tray and bake at 160ºC for approximately 20 minutes. The crumble is ready when the nuts just start to colour. Remove the crumble from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

To Assemble:

Place two plum halves and a little syrup into the bottom of each serving glass. Follow with a couple of spoonfuls of the nut crumble. Then repeat – spoon two more plum halves into each glass and finish with a layer of nut crumble. If you are not serving them straight away these could be covered and placed in the fridge for a couple of hours at this stage. Otherwise dollop a spoonful of yoghurt on top (I love vanilla buffalo yoghurt for this!) and drizzle with fresh passion fruit.

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