As the Winter months draw ever closer, you may find yourself needing extra carbs to keep yourself warm and cosy. However, you don’t want those carbs to be of the refined, high sugar variety as these will ultimately make you feel worse and make you gain weight.
Ideally, you want these carbs to come from complex sources, as in the wholegrain oats you will find in this basic, oil free, Healthy Fruit Crumble with Oats.
This recipe is part of our comfort food range like our apple tray bake, and can be eaten with lashings of custard, cream or ice-cream.
What are Complex Carbohydrates?
Complex carbs are sometimes referred to as slow release carbs or low GI foods. This is because their carbohydrate content is ‘slow release’, meaning it’s sugars hit the bloodstream more slowly, thus giving you long term, sustained energy.
The lower the GI of a food, the slower its energy is released, leaving you fuller and more satiated for longer. This will ultimately mean less snacking on unhealthy junk foods.
Low GI, complex carbs are also high in fibre, and is yet another reason for their satiating qualities.
How complex carbs affect weight loss
The great thing about complex carbs (like those found in this low calorie berry crumble) is their ability to help keep weight stable.
This works on a couple of levels, the first being the fact that complex carbs are high fibre. High fibre foods keep you FULL and stop you snacking. They will also keep you off that sugar train that puts you into an endless cycle of eating sugar, crashing and eating more sugar to compensate.
Secondly, the high fibre, complex carbs found in this healthy fruit crumble will help keep your blood sugar stable. Blood sugar fluctuations caused by a diet high in refined sugars promote fat that undesirable fat storage. That’s why a high fibre diet is healthy in so many ways.
Health Benefits of Oats
Oats are a nutritious wholegrain. They are also extremely cost effective and are definitely a budget friendly, plant based food.
Oats are also naturally gluten free. However, if you have a gluten allergy, or intolerance, then you will need to specifically buy gluten free oats. This is because oats contain avenin – a protein similar to gluten and cannot be tolerated by those with allergies.
Other benefits of oats include:-
- HIGH IN NUTRIENTS – Oats contain a myriad of nutrients, including manganese, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, iron, zinc, folate, B1 and B5.
- ANTIOXIDANTS – Oats are high in antioxidants and polyphenols which are compounds that help slow the aging process. You will also find antioxidants in many other plant sources, so be sure to eat a good array.
- BETA GLUCANS – Oats contain a powerful soluble fibre called beta glucans. These can help reduce cholesterol, blood sugar, increase fullness and increase healthy bacteria growth.ng
Why this Crumble is Customisable
The great thing about our super easy, fruit crumble recipe with oats is the fact you can use any fruit filling you like and it will still taste 100% yummy.
We have used a 500g bag of frozen forest fruits. Using shop bought, frozen fruits makes a huge difference to prep time. You can prep this crumble in under 10 minutes if you use a bag of frozen fruit pre prepped.
You can also use any other fillings you like. Options are:-
- Chopped Bramley apple with sultanas, healthy sugar alternative and cloves
- Rhubarb with a little healthy sweetener
- Rhubarb and plum
- Apple and blackberry (why not try our raw berry jam)
- Cherry (fresh, canned or frozen)
3 Ingredient, Oil Free, Healthy Fruit Crumble with Oats (Customisable)
Equipment
- 1 oven proof dish
- 1 Mixing bowl
- 1 Wooden spoon
Ingredients
For the crumble
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup oat flour To make your oat flour, whizz up rolled oats in a blender to a flour texture. This only takes 30 seconds, but is way cheaper than buying oat flour in the supermarket. If you add 1 cup of oats to your blender, you will find that you will end up with less than 1 c up of oat flour after it has been combined, so make allowances for this.
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- Pinch salt
- 500 g bag, frozen forest fruits
- Healthy sweetener to taste
- Pinch nutmeg
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to around 190C
- In a oven proof dish roughly 8 inches round, lay out your frozen berries out evenly. Pour over the berries half a cup of water so that your crumble doesn't come out too dry.
- Sprinkle on your nutmeg and a touch of sweetener if you like a really sweet crumble. It doesn't really need it as the crumble topping is very sweet with the maple syrup in itself. Some fruits will need a sweetener, depending on what they are. For instance, gooseberries, cooking apples and rhubarb will all need extra sweetness as they are pretty bitter (all of these fruits will require pre-cooing down in a saucepan with sweetener and and a little water first) . Cherries, raspberries and blueberries are pretty sweet on their own and can be used as they are.
For the crumble
- In a separate bowl, combine your oats, oat flour, salt and maple syrup with a wooden spoon. Do not over mix as you don't want to break up your rolled oats into too much of a mush. You may need to get your fingers in there to help combine.
- Now crumble your mix on top of your fruit evenly.
- Bake in the oven for roughly 25-30 minutes until the top is golden.
- Serve with either custard, ice-cream, cream or Greek yogurt.
- This crumble is delicious served hot or cold. Can also be eaten for breakfast due to it being healthy.
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Why not check out our delicious blueberry crumble too!
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