I found a punnet of pretty little gooseberries in my Oddbox delivery and spent a while thinking how best to use them. In the end, I decided on a dairy-free crumble so the key pudding-eater in our house could join in.
I’ve eaten enough dry and dusty crumbles in my life to make me sometimes head a little too far in the other direction and this one is super-juicy. The chewy-crispy coconut topping paired with the tart-sweet-creamy filling turned out to be a pretty awesome combination and you definitely won’t need custard on the side.
You may need to vary the amount of sugar a little depending in the sharpness of the gooseberries.
Vegan gooseberry & coconut crumble
Serves 4
Prepare: 10 minutes
Cook: 45 minutes
300g gooseberries, topped and tailed
2 eating apples, peeled and diced
100g caster sugar
160ml coconut cream
For the crumble
40g coconut oil
50g caster sugar
75g plain flour
Pinch of salt
60g desiccated coconut
Handful of coconut flakes
1 Preheat the oven to 180°C gas mark 4. Toss the gooseberries, apple and sugar together in a pie dish or other ovenproof dish and bake for 15 minutes until the fruit begins to soften and release its juices.
2 Meanwhile, for the crumble topping place the coconut oil, sugar, flour, salt and desiccated coconut in a bowl rub together using your fingertips until the coconut oil is blended in.
3 Take the fruit out of the oven - you can strain off some of the juices if you wish but if you like a very juicy pudding as I do, just stir the coconut cream straight in.
4 Scatter the crumble mixture over the filling then bake for 20 minutes. Sprinkle over the coconut flakes and cook for a further 10 minutes until bubbling and golden. Good served straight away but chilled leftovers are also delicious.