Madhouse recipe : Blueberry and coconut crumble squares

Award-winning British brand The Groovy Food Company has partnered with foodie mum and presenter on Britain’s Got Talent, Alesha Dixon, to create a range of delicious, healthy recipes and show consumers how best to use the brand’s natural and unrefined foods to feed the body’s overall health and wellbeing. 

They sent us over a bottle of their agave nectar, along with a recipe to try out. 

 Blueberry and coconut crumble squares

Makes 12 Prep 15 mins Cook 45 mins

Ingredients:

For the base:

250g plain flour

50g ground almonds

1 tsp baking powder

125g coconut oil, chilled until firm

100g The Groovy Food Company Dark Agave Syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

50g desiccated coconut

zest 1 lemon

1 egg, beaten

For the filling

300g frozen blueberries

75g The Groovy Food Company Dark Agave Syrup

juice 1 lemon

2 1/2 tbsp cornflour

Method:

1. Heat oven to 180/160 fan/gas 4. Grease and line a 17cm x 25cm (or 20cm x 20cm) baking tin with baking parchment.

2. Stir the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and a pinch of salt together in a large bowl. Add the firm coconut oil and rub in using your hands, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the agave and vanilla. Transfer 200g of the mixture to a separate bowl, for the crumble topping, and stir in the desiccated coconut and lemon zest, cover and chill. 

To the remainder add the beaten egg, then tip this into the baking tin. Using your hands press the mixture into an even layer, prick with a fork and bake for 15 mins, leave to cool.

3. Meanwhile for the filling, put berries, syrup and lemon juice in a pan. Heat gently until the mixture begins to bubble, then cook for 2-3 mins. Remove from the heat. Mix the cornflour with 2 tbsp cold water. Very slow stir in the cornflour mixture into the blueberries, stirring all the time. Return the pan to heat and bubble for 1 min. Set aside to cool.

4. Once cooled a little spoon the blueberry mixture over the base, and spread to an even layer. Top with the crumble topping and bake for 25 mins or until golden. Leave to cool completely before cutting.

I'd never tried using coconut oil to replace butter or margarine for making breadcrumbs but it does work just as well. The crumble topping is a bit on the dry side but the blueberries and agave nectar add lovely sweetness and moisture. They're very simple to make too, so the kids can get involved with everything except cooking the blueberries. If we manage to go blackberrying at the end of the summer, I'll definitely be making these again - they'd be fab with summer fruits like strawberries and peaches too.

Disclosure : I was provided with the ingredients to recreate the recipe.