This Cherry Rhubarb Crumble is tangy, tart and slightly sweet and is absolutely delicious served hot with yoghurt or fresh ice-cream. With a fridge filled with rhubarb and the first tart cherries at my local store, I couldn’t resist making another crumble. This is a more simple version of my Rhubarb Peach Strawberry Crumble. It’s not as sweet as I wanted to enhance the tart flavours of both the rhubarb and the cherries. I have used only very little coconut palm sugar, which has a lower glycemic index than refined sugar. It won’t give you a major spike in your blood sugar.

It’s delicious when serve hot with some ice cream, but it’s also great to eat cold the next day. I tried it with the delicious organic ice cream from De Ijsmakerij. Both the yoghurt cherry ice-cream and the vanilla bourbon work really well with it. What I love about De Ijsmakerij is that they are a local company, based in Amsterdam with a passion for artisanal-made ice cream, organic produce and original flavors. They use only organic ingredients. Their fresh milk and cream comes from a local organic care farm just outside of Amsterdam. They also use real fruit instead of fruit concentrates.

You can buy their ice-cream at Charlie+Mary, a sustainable fashion store in de Pijp. Their store is just around the corner from where I live, in Amsterdam’s SoHo area. In the back of the store, The Proud Otter is housed. A day-time cafe, where you can sit down for coffee and have a small bite. They serve homemade organic food by the caterer Streep, local coffee from Stadsbranderij Noord and of course they sell ice cream from De Ijsmakerij too. They are open Monday till Saturday. If you don’t live close de Pijp, you can also buy their ice-cream every Saturday at their stall at the Noordermarkt, a local, organic farmer’s market in the city center of Amsterdam.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of tart pitted cherries (you can use frozen cherries too)
• 1-2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp of coconut palm sugar
• 2 stalks of rhubarb
• 2 tbsp of almond flour
• a sprinkle of sea salt
• 2 tbsp coconut oil

Crumble topping

• 1/3 cup of almond flour
• <1/3 cup of brasil nuts, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp of coconut oil
• ½ tbsp of coconut palm sugar

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180c
• Add rhubarb and cherries to a bowl. Mix in apple cider vinegar and 1tbsp of sugar. Allow to macerate for 10-15 minutes.
• When ready, add 2 tbsp of almond flour. If you don’t have any almond flour, grind the almonds into a course flour using a food processor or ‘dry’ blender.
• Mix all crumble mixture ingredients into a separate bowl. Make sure the coconut oil is mixed in well.
• Grease a baking tray with coconut oil or use a small porcelain baking dish (one for each person). I used two oval-shaped porcelain baking dishes. I love how they look and it’s nice to serve the crumble in them when you have guests over. Because of the smaller size, it will also speed up the baking process.
• Pour the rhubarb filling evenly into the baking tray or baking dishes. Cover the rhubarb filling lavishly and evenly with the crumb mixture.
• Bake for 30-45 minutes, until the juices are thick and syrupy and the crumble topping is crunchy and beautifully browned. If you use small baking dishes like I did, it will be ready in 30 minutes.
• Serve hot with coconut ice cream or vanilla ice cream. I tried it with ice cream from de Ijsmakerij. If you have made too much, it’s also great to eat cold the next day.