Food Stories is a new column in which Best of Vegan community members share recipes from their cultures and personal stories connected to those dishes. Today, Elizabeth Emery of Vancouver with Love shares her recipe for vegan apple & blackberry crumble, and her childhood memories of blackberry-picking.
Table of Contents
There’s nothing that takes me back to childhood quite like Blackberry Crumble. It doesn’t matter that I now live halfway across the world on another continent, or that we moved away from the island I spent my childhood on more than two decades ago – once I’m standing in front of a bramble bush with my hands stained a deep purplish-pink from its berries, I’m home.
Growing up on the Isle of Wight in the UK, picking blackberries was a way of life in the summer months. Despite how much my sister and I complained, we actually rather enjoyed getting pricked by thorns in order to reach those top, juicy berries while standing under the melting August sun.
But the best bit by far was the magic that happened when we got them home. For – I should note – Blackberry Crumble was very much a family affair. My mum would take my sister and me along the lanes with baskets to harvest, and my dad would transform our bounty into beautiful pies and crumbles.
Perhaps not the most typical pies, as the humble wholewheat crust he made was very simple with minimal sweetness. And the same could be said of the crumbles because as a family we tended to opt for whole foods over refined flours and sugars (something I loathed at the time but am now forever grateful for).
But that taste was magic to me. Blackberries were combined with fresh cooking apples from a tree in our garden and mixed with a generous amount of brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves to create an aroma that still fills my head to this day. The taste when served with fresh cream? Pure homemade delight.
Nowadays, I’ve swapped the dairy cream for whipped coconut cream and the butter for coconut oil to make this family recipe fully vegan, but honestly, I can’t tell the difference. Even if I’m far across the ocean in western Canada, that taste still takes me right back to the English countryside and works as an excellent cure for homesickness every time.
A Note on Ingredients
If you’re wondering where to find blackberries, I highly recommend foraging them. They appear everywhere at this time of year as they’re technically weeds (particularly in sunny spots like beside railway lines or alleyways) and are easily identifiable as they don’t look like anything else currently growing. You can also buy them in stores, but they taste SO much better when picked wild. They’re also a completely free, nutritious source of food when found this way.
You can make this Blackberry Crumble a little cheaper but swapping the almonds out for sunflower seeds. They aren’t as sweet and flavourful as almonds, but they don’t have a strong taste, are nutrient-dense, and cost very little. You’re welcome to substitute any nut or seed you prefer, just be aware that any you use will change the flavor of the crumble subtly.
I love serving this Blackberry Crumble with dairy-free ice cream, coconut whip, or yogurt. I particularly like using coconut yogurt, as I find it really creamy. You can find my recipe for making your own coconut whipped cream here.
Vegan Apple & Blackberry Crumble – Recipe Card
Vegan Apple & Blackberry Crumble
Ingredients
Filling
- 3 cups blackberries - fresh or frozen
- 6 tart - juicy medium-sized apples (about 7 cups), peeled and chopped into roughly 1-inch cubes
- 2 tbsp maple syrup or coconut nectar
- Small pinch each of cinnamon - cloves, and nutmeg
Crumble
- ¾ cup ground almonds
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 2 tbsp coconut sugar
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp cloves
- ¼ cup coconut oil
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 150°C/300°F.
- To make the filling
- In a saucepan with a lid, gently heat the blackberries on medium-low heat - stirring frequently - until they are broken down (about 15 minutes - if using frozen berries, they may need a little longer).
- Remove from the heat and strain the blackberry mixture through a sieve (with a small enough mesh that that the seeds are removed from the mixture) into a bowl.
- Spend a few minutes pressing the mixture gently through the sieve with a wooden spoon to ensure all the juice gets through. Set this juice aside. Discard the thick, seedy pulp that's left.
- Heat the apples in a large saucepan with a lid on – on medium-low heat – adding 1-2 tbsp of water to avoid sticking. Stir frequently, until the apples have softened and disintegrated when touched with a spoon (about 25-30 minutes).
- Remove from the heat and stir in the blackberry mixture along with the maple syrup and spices. Set aside.
- To make the crumble
- Mix the ground almonds, oats, coconut sugar, and spices with a spoon in a large bowl until all ingredients are combined.
- Rub the coconut oil into the mixture with your hands until it resembles a breadcrumb-like texture.
- To assemble
- Spoon the filling into a large oven-proof baking dish, and sprinkle the crumble mixture on top, completely covering the filling.
- Bake for about 20 minutes in the oven, until the top is lightly browned.
- Serve immediately with dairy-free ice cream, yogurt, or coconut whip. Enjoy!
Notes
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Text, recipe, and photography by Elizabeth Emery.
