Comfort food for fall - Mixed Fruit Crumble - CORRECTED!!

Dear readers, I don't know about you, but I LOVE fall!  I love that it's cool, even chilly, but that the raw, sharp winds of winter have not yet arrived.  Here in California the weather is fickle and there can still be a few warm days even in October. 

Naturally fall brings to mind some of my family's favorite comfort foods, and very high on that list are fruit pies, crumbles and crisps.  Fortunately the physical problems I was complaining about in the last post (nausea and food aversion) have subsided for the most part, and I've been able to eat a bit....which means that I've been able to cook a bit, too!

The other night I was looking at the fruit we had in the house....pears and apples in the bowl on the counter, blueberries and raspberries in the fridge. I wanted to create something warm and comforting.  It helped that I had been reading a number of gluten free food blogs recently (including Karina's and Elana's)....I was inspired to bake a mixed fruit crumble, using all of those fruits that we had plus a new all natural sweetener I'm trying out: coconut nectar.

Coconut nectar is advertised as being more nutritious than agave nectar, and is simply the raw sap of the coconut tree.  It's very sweet, similar to, although not quite as sweet as agave nectar, and has a very low glycemic index.  It is also MUCH lower in fructose than agave nectar.

NOTE: you may use all apples or all pears and/or any berries you prefer...I just used what I had, and it turned out to be SCRUMPTIOUS!

Triple-Coconut Berry-Apple-Pear Crumble (CORRECTED)
("triple" because I use coconut flour, coconut nectar, and coconut oil!)

Ingredients

Topping:

1 C almond flour

1/2 C coconut flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
pinch or two of nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon

1/3 C of coconut nectar (or 1/4 C agave nectar)

1/3 C melted coconut oil (or melted butter)

Filling:

4 large pears, peeled and sliced (OR 2 pears and 2 medium apples, THINLY sliced)

1 1/2 - 2 C fresh or frozen berries (I used fresh blueberries and raspberries)

1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
2 tsp cornstarch or arrowroot
2-3 T coconut nectar (or honey or agave)

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and lightly oil the bottom of an 8 or 9 inch pie plate.

Mix together the dry ingredients for the topping, then add the coconut oil and coconut nectar.  Blend well; it should be stiff and somewhat crumbly, of course.

Toss the fruit together with the other ingredients for the filling.  Sprinkle a small amount of the crumble topping on the the bottom of the pie plate, then spread the filling in the pan.  Use your fingers to crumble the remaining topping over the fruit filling.

Bake at 325 F for 30 - 40 minutes.  After approximately 30 minutes test with a sharp knife, skewer or toothpick; if the apple/pear slices are very tender, and the topping is a deep golden brown, remove from oven.  Serve warm as is, or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, if desired.

By the way, I think it's great that several other gluten free food bloggers have discovered that mixing coconut and almond flours really works!  The first time I mixed them (for my grain free garlic cheese and grain free classic drop biscuits), I had never seen any other recipes that combined those two flours. But now there are others posting recipes on their blogs using mixtures of those two flours!  How cool is that!