Easy 7-ingredient paleo cherry rhubarb crumble. Served in individual portions for a quick and delicious summer dessert for two! Oat-free, refined sugar-free, gluten-free, and vegan optional.
Rhubarb season is here my friends and I am ready for it! I simply cannot resist those gorgeous ruby stalks at the market.
Through the years I have found a million ways to add rhubarb to just about anything. I've roasted it and added that tart and sweet goodness to salads. I've steeped it with earl grey tea for a sparkly fun drink. I've slow cooked it with raspberries and sugar to make a rhubarb compote, I've then swirled that compote into creamy Greek yogurt and froze it into festive rhubarb popsicles. I've made a crave-able summer rhubarb flatbread with ricotta cheese, honey, and mint. I've stirred chopped rhubarb into gluten-free zucchini bread (coming soon!).
It's safe to say I love rhubarb and love creating mouth-watering treats with it.
INGREDIENTS YOU WILL NEED TO MAKE THIS RHUBARB CRUMBLE
- Rhubarb – Technically a vegetable, rhubarb is tart and luscious and can be found at most farmers markets and grocery stores through early August. For nutrition information on rhubarb read my everything you need to know about rhubarb post.
- Cherries – You will need to pit the cherries and cut in half. You can make quick work of it using a multiple cherry pitter (one of my all-time favorite kitchen tools, due to my obsession with cherry desserts!)
- Almond Flour – Almond flour is nothing more than just ground almonds. It is the perfect “paleo” flour and ideally suited for a crumble topping. I use either Honeyville brand, Anthony's almond flour, or Bob's Red Mill almond flour.
- Coconut Palm Sugar – Coconut palm sugar is a natural sweetener from the coconut palm tree. I love the deep molasses flavor it imparts in this recipe. You could easily swap brown sugar.
- Arrowroot Powder – Also called arrowroot starch, is used as a thickening agent. You can easily replace with cornstarch.
- Lime Zest – a little citrus zest is perfect in this recipe
- Unsalted Butter – For a vegan version use cold coconut oil.
WHAT IS RHUBARB?
Rhubarb is technically a vegetable, although it is most frequently referred to as a fruit. It grows year-round in greenhouses but field rhubarb is one of the first vegetables/fruits of spring and grows through summer.
You will find a variance in color, some stalks more green, some more red, some downright pretty in pink. The red stalks tend to be sweeter.
HOW TO MAKE A PALEO RHUBARB CRUMBLE?
I love making crisps and crumbles in the summer. They are the epitome of easy, no-muss, forgiving desserts. No need to roll out dough, or perfectly measure ingredients.
For this crumble, simple toss the fruit together with a bit of coconut palm sugar and lime zest, then add arrowroot powder which will help to turn the fruit juices into a thick ooey gooey sweet and tart sauce.
Pour the fruit into individual ramekins (I love making this as an individual dessert but you can certainly make a bigger batch by doubling the recipe).
Combine the almond flour, coconut palm sugar, and cold diced butter. I use my hands to make quick work of this. Combine until it resembles small pebbles of doughy goodness.
Crumble the almond flour mixture on top of the fruit and bake for 25-30 minutes until the fruit is bubbly and warm and the topping is just beginning to brown.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CRISP, CRUMBLE, AND A COBBLER?
Cobblers typically have dollops of batter or biscuits dropped on top of a bed of fruit.
Crisps typically have a topping that includes oats. Like in this apple pear crisp.
Crumbles have more of a streusel style crumb topping usually made of some kind of flour, sugar, butter, and nut mixture.
WHAT FRUIT GOES WELL WITH RHUBARB?
Rhubarb is slightly tart and when cooked it gets quite mushy. Rhubarb pairs quite well with sweeter berries and stone fruits like cherries, strawberries (classic combo), raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, peaches, nectarines, or apricots. If you make this crumble with strawberries you will need to add a bit more arrowroot powder as the strawberries release more liquid than the cherries.
More Summer Desserts You Will Love!
Sour Cream Blueberry Thyme Scones
Vegan Layered Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Pie
Gluten Free Strawberry Almond Cake
Flourless Tahini Chocolate Chip Skillet
HOW TO SERVE THIS EASY PALEO CHERRY RHUBARB CRUMBLE
My preference is a big scoop of vanilla ice cream while the crumble is still warm, but here are a few other ideas:
- Serve with dairy-free coconut ice cream
- Serve with whipped cream
- Serve with coconut whipped cream
- Serve with vanilla greek yogurt (Siggi's would be amazing on this) – if serving with greek yogurt I prefer the crumble cooled down or chilled. i.e. this is a perfectly acceptable breakfast when served with vanilla yogurt the day after 🙂
I hope you love this paleo cherry rhubarb crumble! If you make it be sure to tag me @abrapappa on Instagram so I can see your masterpiece!
Paleo Cherry Rhubarb Crumble
Ingredients
- 1 cup rhubarb, sliced
- 1 cup cherries, pitted and halved
- 2 tsp arrowroot powder
- 1 tbsp coconut palm sugar
- 1 tsp lime zest
Crumble Topping
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1 tbsp coconut palm sugar
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter cold and diced into cubes
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°
- In a small bowl combine halved cherries, diced rhubarb, coconut palm sugar, and lime zest. Stir until well combined. Add arrowroot powder and stir well.
- Pour mixture into 2 small ramekins or an 8×8" baking dish.
- Prepare crumble topping by mixing together almond flour, coconut palm sugar, salt, and butter. Mix together with your hands (I find this is the easiest way) until the mixture resembles small pebbles. Top fruit mixture entirely with crumble.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly and the topping has just begun to brown. Allow to cool before serving.
- Serve with traditional or dairy free vanilla ice cream.
Notes
- You can substitute cherries with just about any other kind of fruit, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries or blueberries. Diced stone fruit like apricots or peaches would also be delicious
- You can substitute coconut palm sugar with brown sugar at a 1:1 ratio
- You can substitute arrowroot powder with cornstarch at a 1:1 ratio
- I used individual gratin ramekins for this recipe. I love summer desserts that are individual and mini! You can certainly make a larger version of this but I would recommend doubling the recipe.
Jordan Schehr says
I enjoyed this more than I expected.