Blog Series: Norwegian Ingredient Spotlight: Gluten Free Strawberry and Rhubarb Crumble

Gluten Free Strawberry and Rhubarb Crumble

It’s nearly the end of June and sadly, summer still hasn’t arrived in Norway. Fingers crossed next week (or even tomorrow) brings at least a bit of sun, but after the last few weeks in Stavanger, I’m not exactly holding my breath. I love the summer time in Norway for a few reasons. Summer is when most of the community events occur, summer days have the most sunlight hours and of course, because of the bounty of fresh, locally grown summer fruits available in the markets. Two of said fruits, strawberries and rhubarb, can be found in Norway year round as jams and sweets, but in summer I like to take advantage of the fresh versions and combine them into a not-too-sweet and easy to make dessert.


While there are several recipes out there for making crumbles, most require loads of sugar or gluten laden bleached wheat flour. While I like sugary goodness as much as the next person, I’m trying to cut back (thank you too tight jeans!) and enjoy dishes where I can use sugar alternatives such agave nectar, without losing texture or taste or alternatively, ones where only a bit of added sugar is needed.
Similar to my choice to lower the amount of sugar in my diet, these days I’m also choosing to bake gluten free where it makes sense. While I am not gluten intolerant or a celiac sufferer, I’m trying out other flours in my cooking because I think less wheat is easier on my stomach and because I’d like to try using more of the flours out there. When there is so much to choose from, why only use one type of flour? My favourite flour so far is gluten free oat flour as it lends a subtle nutty taste and is replaceable gram for gram to wheat flour in most recipes.

Ingredients


Filling:
500 grams strawberries – washed, with the tops cut off and cut into 4 pieces
2 stalks of rhubarb – washed, skinned (remove the rough outer skin) and cut into pieces
45 grams vanilla sugar
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ca. 1 lb. strawberries – washed, with the tops cut off and cut into 4 pieces
2 stalks of rhubarb – washed, skinned (remove the rough outer skin) and cut into pieces
2 tablespoons vanilla sugar


Crumble:
256 grams flour (*)
100 grams butter (room temperature)
45 grams vanilla sugar
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2 cups flour (*)
½ cup butter (room temperature)
2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
(*)For the flour in this recipe, you can use all bleached wheat flour, all oat flour or a blended ratio.

Directions
1 Pre-heat oven to 185 Celsius/365 Fahrenheit. Layer strawberries and rhubarb in a deep baking dish.

2 Sprinkle the vanilla sugar on top of the strawberry & rhubarb layers, then set to the side.

3 To make the crumble, place the flour and vanilla sugar into a medium sized bowl. Stir together to mix, then add the butter to the flour mixture. Using either a large spoon or your hands, combine the flour mixture and the butter until the flour begins to look like sand.

4 Sprinkle the flour & butter “sand” on top of the strawberry & rhubarb layers. You want to form a crumbly crust here, but not completely cover all of the fruit. Moisture needs to evaporate and warm air needs to get to the fruit, so if you completely cover and/or pack the crumble mixture down onto the fruit, it will turn into a soggy mess of under cooked fruit and burnt crumble. Leave a little bit of room at the edge for evaporation and your crumble will end up cooked thoroughly.

5 Lightly cover the dish with foil (This means place a flat piece of foil on the top of the dish, but do not crunch it on the sides. Otherwise the fruit won’t get enough heat and cook properly.). Next, place the dish in the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes have passed, take the foil off the dish and cook for another 10-15, just until the top is golden brown.

6 Enjoy!