Quick Summary: Fresh blueberries topped with a crunchy almond flour and pecan crumble. Includes tips for keeping the topping crisp and a guide to the difference between crumbles, crisps, cobblers, and buckles. Freezer-friendly topping for quick summer desserts. Prep: 30 min | Cook: 25 min | Serves: 8
Jump to: RECIPE | Crumbles vs Crisps vs Cobblers | Crispy Topping | Pro Tips | What to Serve with Crumbles? | FAQ
I grow and tend 600 blueberry plants at HeathGlen Organic Farm for the farmers’ markets (it’s one of our specialty crops). Not all of the blueberries to to market however. I manage to save plenty out for cooking and freezing for our family.
Blueberry season does get really busy though, and this crumble is my go-to for a quick and simple weeknight recipe.
The topping freezes beautifully, so I can keep portions in the freezer for spontaneous fruit desserts all summer. Pull out some topping, toss whatever berries or stone fruit you have with a little sweetener, and bake. This gives us a dessert in under an hour with almost no prep.
The trick to keeping the topping crisp is adding it partway through baking. If it cooks the entire time with the fruit, the butter mingles with the berry juices and the topping gets soggy.
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Crumbles vs Crisps vs Cobblers
These terms get used interchangeably, but actually they are different desserts if you want to get technial. Here is a summary of the differences, along with a couple of other similar desserts:
- Crisp: A crisp is fruit dessert with a topping made of oats, flour, butter, and sugar (and sometimes nuts). The topping completely covers the fruit and is baked. This Blackberry Apple Crisp is my all time favorite crisp (not low carb though).
- Crumble: Crumbles are very similar to crisps, but the name originated in England. Both contain fresh fruit and are covered with a streusel topping that gets baked. Crumble toppings, however, usually do not contain oats, whereas crisp toppings do.
- Cobbler: Cobblers are a fruit dessert baked with biscuit-style topping. It’s called a cobbler because its top crust is not smooth like a pie crust but rather “cobbled” and coarse. It’s usually dropped or spooned over the fruit, then baked, as in this strawberry-rhubarb cobbler.
- Buckle:A buckle consists of fruit and cake baked together, with a streusel topping. As it bakes the fruit and streusel topping makes the cake “buckle.” It resembles a coffee cake.
- Brown Betty: A Brown Betty (as in “Apple Brown Betty”) is similar to a crisp, but has no oats in its buttery crumb topping. And rather than having the topping solely on top of the fruit, it’s layered throughout, then baked
This recipe is technically a crumble (no oats), though it does include nuts.
How to Make Slow Carb Blueberry Crumble
The full instructions and ingredient amounts are in the recipe card below. In short:
- Combine almond flour, chopped pecans, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and brown sugar substitute.
- Grate frozen butter into the dry ingredients, then add vanilla, vinegar, and egg yolks.
- In a separate bowl, toss blueberries with xanthan gum (or cornstarch), sweetener, lemon zest, lemon juice, and nutmeg.
- Press half the crumble mixture into the bottom of a pie plate, add the berry mixture, then drop the remaining crumble in clumps over the top.
- Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes until bubbling and golden.
Check out more blueberry recipes from our farm, from sweet to savory to cocktails to preserves.
Tips for the Best Low-Carb Crumble
- Add nuts for crunch. Pecans or walnuts work beautifully with blueberries.
- Embrace the rustic look. These aren’t meant to be perfect. Uneven, clumpy toppings are just fine.
- Grate frozen butter. Use a box grater to incorporate cold butter quickly without overworking it.
- Use xanthan gum instead of cornstarch for low-carb thickening. Or skip the thickener entirely; the filling will be runnier but still delicious.
- Adjust sweetness to your berries. Berries differ in their sweetness (mostly due to harvesting practices). Sweet berries need less sweetener.
- Use frozen if need-be: You can use frozen berries if you don’t have fresh.
Ingredients:
The following photo shows you all the ingredients you will need for this recipe. For details on measurements, see the recipe below.
How to Keep the Topping Crisp
If the topping and the berry filling cook together for the same amount of time, the butter in the topping will often mix with the berries, causing it to lose some of its crispness.
I have found it helpful to make the topping ahead of time (it can be refrigerated or frozen) and add it to the dish for the last 15 minutes of baking. It stays “crisper” that way.
What Do You Serve with a Crumble?
Whipped cream can be a slow carb (not low calorie) accompaniment to crisps and crumbles. You can quickly and easily make delicious whipped cream by whipping up some heavy whipping cream. Check out this homemade whipped cream post on how to get soft peaks vs. stiff peaks.
You don’t need to add sugar to the whipped cream at all if you don’t want to. It’s still wonderful.
Ice cream also makes a great accompaniment, but it’s tough to find no-sugar ice cream in the store or as a DIY with an ice cream maker. I’ll stick with soft fluffy whipped cream (maybe with a touch of bourbon).
Freeze the Topping for Easy Future Crisps and Crumbles
The crumble topping freezes beautifully so you can make spur of the moment fruit desserts any time the urge strikes. Make it in a large batch, freeze for up to 4 months, and use it to top off a baking dish filled with sweetened fresh or frozen fruit.
To use: fill a baking dish with sweetened fresh or frozen fruit, top with frozen crumble (no need to thaw), and bake at 375°F until fruit bubbles and topping is golden.
More Berry Recipes:
To see how we have used the blueberries from our harvests over the years, check out my Blueberry Cookbook. It covers more than 80 recipes that range from sweet to savory using fresh or frozen blueberries.
FAQ
Yes. No need to thaw. Baking time may increase slightly.
Yes. Mixed berries, peaches, plums, or apples all work. Adjust sweetener based on the fruit’s natural sweetness
Whipped cream with soft peaks. Heavy cream whipped without added sugar is low-carb and delicious. Whipped cream post
Yes. Use regular brown sugar and granulated sugar. It won’t be low-carb but will taste great.
It baked too long with the fruit. Next time, add the topping for just the last 15-20 minutes of baking
To see how we have used the blueberries from our harvests over the years, check out my Blueberry Cookbook. It covers more than 80 recipes that range from sweet to savory using fresh or frozen blueberries.
Low Carb Blueberry Crumble
Equipment
- 2 bowls
- hand grater
- measuring spoons and cups
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup almond flour
- ½ cup pecans chopped
- ¼ tsp salt pink himalayan if possible
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ cup swerve brown sugar or other sugar substitute
- ¾ cup unsalted butter frozen
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 egg yolks
- 4 cups blueberries about 2 lbs.
- 3 Tbs cornstarch 1.4 tsp xanthum gum if low carb
- ¼ cup truvia or other sugar substitute
- 1 tsp lemon zest or zest from 1 lemon
- 2 tsp lemon juice or juice from 1/2 lemon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 °F. To make crumble: In a large bowl add almond flour, chopped pecans, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and Swerve brown sugar. Stir together with a wire whisk or fork.1 1/2 cup almond flour, 1/2 cup pecans, 1/4 tsp salt, 3/4 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 cup swerve brown sugar
- Take the butter out of the freezer and place a hand grater over the bowl of dry ingredients. Grate the frozen butter into the bowl, stopping and stirring in to the dry ingredients every so often. Repeat until all butter is mixed in.3/4 cup unsalted butter
- Add vanilla and vinegar and egg yolks to the bowl and stir together until well blended. Set aside1 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp apple cider vinegar, 2 egg yolks
- In another large bowl, combine the blueberries, cornstarch (or xanthan gum), truvia, lemon zest, nutmeg and lemon juice. Stir together well with a spoon.4 cups blueberries, 3 Tbs cornstarch, 1/4 cup truvia, 1 tsp lemon zest, 2 tsp lemon juice, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- Divide the crumb mixture in half and place half of it in bottom of a pie plate. Pat in and gently spread over bottom of pie plates with your hands. Add the blueberry mixture on top of the bottom crumb mix and then take the remaining half of the crumb mixture and use your hands to place the dollop over the top of the blueberries. The topping will probably be in clumps of dough. Just drop it over the blueberries in small uneven clumps. You will probably have some crumb dough left over and that can be frozen.
- Bake in oven at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or until fruit is bubbling in the center and the topping is crisp and well browned.
- Cool slightly and serve warm with ice cream, whipped cream or alone. Garnish with mint if you have any.
Video
Dorothy Stainbrook says: 
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