Back when I first cut gluten and dairy out of my diet, I was on a major mission to find the best sweet treats that would satisfy my sweet cravings. I made something similar to this back then, but then found a juice bar that also had a gluten free and vegan bakery section producing the absolute best treats. They served a version of these crumble bars so I never devoted the time to perfecting my own recipe for them as there was a solution on my doorstep.

Like most things, I eventually overdid it on the crumble bars so put them to the back of my mind for a while until the idea resurfaced through an Instagram account I follow recently.

It got me back on the train and I started to play with the recipe again. I also realised that in response to my comment on the banana muffin post recently, it turns out there IS in fact a relatively guilt free sweet treat that doesn’t involve peanut butter or bananas. And this, my friends, is it!

These are pretty quick to make, full of goodness and damn delicious. Pretty much guilt free, depending on which way you look at it, but maybe that’s just my mind telling me that there’s nothing that bad in them and therefore I can justify eating the whole lot.

The only downside to these beauties is that they don’t keep all that well. Due to the moisture in the fruit, they go soft and, dare I say, even soggy, if left too long, so best devoured on the day of baking or at least the next day… but if you are anything like myself then that won’t be a problem anyway!!

Let’s get going, shall we?!

The ingredients you’ll need are:

• 2C Almond Flour
• 2T Coconut Flour
• 1/3C Coconut Oil
• 1/3C Maple Syrup
• 1/2 Vanilla
• Pinch of Salt

• 2C Berries, Fresh or Frozen, chopped
• 2T Chia Seeds
• 1t Maple Syrup (optional)

• 1/3C Oats
• 1/3C Nuts – either pecans/walnuts or macademia work best

What you need to do:

• Preheat the oven to 175 C and line a 9inch square tin, baking dish or something with deep sides around this size with parchment paper.
• Then start by mixing the base, so the first set of ingredients.
• Spoon 3/4 of this mixture into the lined dish and using the back of the spoon, press it down to create an even layer and make sure it’s tightly packed.
• Put this in the oven for 15 minutes and move on to the jam filling.
• Put the berries into a small saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer. Add the chia seeds, a splash of water and the maple syrup if you’re using it. Leave to simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly.
• In the meantime, mix the oats and nuts into the remaining base mixture and crumble with your fingers. This will be used for the topping.
• When the 15 minutes is up, remove the dish from the oven and spread over the jam before sprinkling the topping over the berries.
• Return to the oven for a further 20 minutes.
• Allow to cool before cutting up into squares or slices.

Enjoy!

L, xo