So if you’ve read this blog before, you’ll know that I’m not a raw food person. I live in a mostly cold climate that requires the consumption of soups, stews, curries, roasted veggies and more. I love experimenting with living food recipes and eating at raw restaurants for sure, but as a lifestyle it’s not for me. I am, without a doubt, a dessert-for-breakfast kind of person though.
Enter raw desserts. These treats are generally made from fruit and nuts (or raw cacao, Irish moss, coconut meat etc). That’s breakfast material right there! Wildly delicious and satiating breakfast material to be specific.
There is so much local fruit available right now: berries, peaches, plums, first apples and pears, all at the same time! It’s a miracle really. I make a simple crumble mix from dates and nuts to scatter on top and a vanilla almond cream to make it seem a bit more indulgent. An initial word on the almond cream: it’s amazing. Some vanilla bean makes it so lovely. I have a high speed blender so I can whip this cream up pretty easily, but I’ll add instructions for food processor usage as well. It might not be as smooth, but the flavour will still be outstanding.
Raw Fruit Crumbles with Almond Cream
Ingredients
Almond Cream
- 1 cup raw almonds, soaked overnight and peeled
- ½ cup water, plus extra
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon agave nectar
- seeds from ½ a vanilla bean (or 1 teaspoon extract)
- ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
Crumble
- 1 cup nuts or seeds of your choice (I used a mix of pecans, walnuts, almonds and hemp seeds)
- ¾ cup pitted Medjool dates
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- seeds from ¼ vanilla bean (or ½ teaspoon vanilla extract)
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
Assembly
- 1-2 cups of sliced/chopped fruit per person
- agave nectar, to taste
- ground cinnamon, to taste
Equipment
Notes
- If you are using a food processor for the almond cream, pulse the soaked almonds until they’re about one stop short of becoming almond butter, then add the other ingredients and put it to high until the cream is as smooth as possible.
- I painstakingly peeled all of the almonds once they were done soaking because I wanted that mellow, creamy colour and texture.
Instructions
- Make the almond cream: place the soaked almonds and water in an upright, high speed blender. Turn the blender onto a low-medium speed to break up the nuts and stop when the pieces are starting to form a puree with the water. Add the coconut oil, agave nectar, vanilla bean seeds, salt and more water if necessary. Turn the blender to high until the mixture is as creamy and smooth as possible. This took a couple minutes for me. Scrape almond cream into a container and chill thoroughly.
- For the crumble: Place all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the nuts become large crumbs and the mix holds together when you pinch it. Set aside or keep in the refrigerator if you're making it ahead.
- To assemble: Place sliced/chopped fruit into a bowl and drizzle lightly with agave. Sprinkle a teeny bit of cinnamon if you like. Spoon some crumble mix evenly on top of the fruit and put a big dollop of almond cream on there.
I pulled this together before work. I used kiwi, pineapple, pear, orange, and pomegranate, I did not peel the skins off the almonds. Heh heh. I will sprinkle it with granola next time. It was very good and filling. Thanks for the recipe.
How long does the cream and the crumble last?
You could keep both in the fridge for up to a week!
-L
Great breakfast option. Love the idea of getting all your goodness in one bowl straight up.
I have loved your Càmping story (have you tried to sleep under the stars?), and the drink seems lovely to me! Regards from Barcelona
I found your site through thekitchn.com, when searching for “can I make my own protein powder”. I was thrilled to discover that I can. I like the sounds of your raw fruit crumble and almond cream. The almond cream sounds delightful, never would have thought of that. Beautiful website, thanks so much! ~Jayme
I just made the almond cream, and it is SO good. Just a little bit of sweetness that goes so perfectly with fruit! Love!!
I made this for breakfast today – Seriously divine! Thank you :-)
Instead of peeling the almonds, an easy way to remove the skin is to blanche them in hot/boiling water for about 30 seconds, then dunk them in cold water. The skins slip right off after that, and they are in the hot water such a short time that it is not supposed to kill the enzymes, so the almonds remain raw. Do this before soaking them :)
Fantastic tip Krystal! Thanks :)
Such a great idea for healthy crumbles!
Simply delightful…. hope I can get my husband to eat fruits for breakfast in this way.
This looks delicious. I just came across your blog through foodista. You have some amazing recipes here.
yes, yes, and yes. I need to put this on my must-make-before-all-the-fruit-is-gone list. lovely.
I only made the almond cream but it was amaaazing! My first nut “cream”. So easy to make too :) It was just a little gritty but I’m sure if I soak the almonds a little longer or blend them a little longer it’ll be perfect.
This is absolute perfection. I am all about dessert-y recipes for breakfast as well. I can’t wait to try this out!