Heleen Meyer says that after many years, this simple granola crumble remains one of her go-to recipes for a quick summer dessert with seasonal fruit. She developed the recipe for her cookbook, Make five (Maak vyf) and she has made it many times since. The base of the mixture is oats, nuts and some cake flour, mixed with butter and sugar and seasoned with sweet spices. Once baked, is becomes a versatile crunchy crumble to use in a variety of ways.
Be creative with the crumble
In this image, the granola is served on fresh figs with some plain, double-cream yoghurt, pomegranate arils and fresh mint and it really is a winning flavour combination! The granola is however absolutely delicious with many other fresh fruit, from berries or strawberries to mango, grapes, nectarines or peaches. Enjoy the crumble over a fruit salad for a refreshing dessert with some added crunch. It is even delicious with ice cream or with baked fruit such as apples or pears. Alternatively, use it like a cookie crumb in between layers of fruit and yoghurt or ice cream (or even try lemon curd), in glasses for a quick and impressive treat.
Festive idea
Heleen says she even uses this crumble as the base for a layered ice cream cake for a festive dessert. Line a suitable freezer container with cling wrap, fill with any ice cream mixture of your choice and arrange layers of granola in between and on top. Once the ice cream is frozen again, turn it out from the container, onto a serving plate. Remove the cling wrap and then the crumb layer should be at the bottom, to form the crunchy base. She says she often seasons vanilla ice cream with nuts, choc chips and dried fruit like cranberries to create a festive, yet so easy-to-prepare, ice cream bombe.
Heleen’s top tip: make a big batch of this granola in advance and keep it in an airtight bag in the freezer, as it stays crunchy. Then you have something on hand to quickly whip up any of these lekker summer dessert ideas.
Granola crumble with figs
Recipe by Heleen Meyer
Serves 6
250 ml (1 cup) uncooked regular oats
125 ml (½ cup) cake flour
75 ml (5 tbsp) soft brown sugar
2,5 ml (½ tsp) ground mixed spice
100 ml (100 g) cold butter
50 g pecan nuts or almonds, finely chopped
300-500 ml plain double-cream yoghurt or lemon curd
6-12 fresh figs or other seasonal fruit
handful fresh mint leaves
handful pomegranate arils
1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Mix oats, flour, butter, sugar and spice in a mixing bowl. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Mix in the nuts. The mixture can also be prepared in a food processor.
3. Spread in an even layer on the baking tray. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
4. Break into coarse crumbs. Serve the crumble with yoghurt and figs in layers. It works well in a glass or a flat bowl. Garnish with mint and pomegranate arils.
5. Store any leftover granola in an airtight container or freeze for later use.
For more recipes like this visit Heleen’s website https://heleenmeyer.co.za/
Image by Neville Lockhart