Alicia's Berry Crumble

Remember that movie movie clueless? While its hard to imagine taking advice from Cher, it is surprisingly easy to aspire to be like the actress, Alicia Silverstone, who played the role. I know its a little stretch of the imagination, but with the help of a well written book with fabulous recipes you can absolutely do it. When my mom first told me, I'll admit i laughed, "do you remember that movie clueless? The actress who played the main character, I love her she's so inspiring..." You can picture how the rest of that conversation went. But after a visit home and a taste of her delicious vegan crumble I am a convert. This crumble is so delicious its hard to believe its vegan and while its not exactly healthy, it sure beats Ms. Smith's apple pie form the freezer section and is made with zero white sugar. The ingredient list is a little daunting if your new to organic or vegan cooking, but most of the items are staples and once you buy them, you'll find they are actually quite useful in cooking and many can substitute traditional sweeteners to make healthier meals. I should also mention that there is a fair ammount of the crumble topping in this recipe, but I agree with Alicia and think its tastes best this way, however feel free to halve the topping recipe if you prefer a thinner crumble layer.

Ingredients
 2.5-3 C. Sliced fresh or frozen mixed berries (Alicia's recipe calls for peaches)
1 C. Blueberries
1 3/4 C. Apple juice
2 Tbs. Kuzu
1 tsp Lemon juice
2 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
Pinch of fine sea salt

Topping
3 C. Rolled oats
2 C. Barley Flour, spelt flour, brown rice flour or sweet rice flour ( any of those will work great)
1/4 Tsp. Fine sea salt
1/4 Tsp. Ground Cinnamon
3/4 C. Safflower oil
3/4 C. Brown rice syrup
1 C. Chopped pecans or walnuts ( this post uses walnuts)

Directions
1. Take your berries out of the freezer to defrost them.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
3. Reserve 1/4 cup of apple juice and heat the remaining 1 1/2 cups in a small saucepan and turn to a low heat.
4. Add the kudzu to the reserved apple juice and stir until completely dissolved.

5. Add the kudzu apple juice mixture to the hot apple juice in the saucepan, as well as the lemon juice- stir constantly!

6.Turn off the heat and add the salt and vanilla.
7. Place the berries into a 9 inch pan and pour the mixture over the berries.
8. Time to make the Topping!
9. Dry roast the oats, flour salt and cinnamon in a saucepan over medium heat for 3-5 minutes.

10. Heat the oil and syrup together, in a different pan
11. Transfer the dry roasted oats into a bowl and pour the oil mixture over it

12. Stir in the nuts
13. Spoon the topping over the fruit.

14. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the foil and bake for 15-20 minutes or until Golden

15. Enjoy what is in my opinion the yummiest dessert in the world!

Recipe Courtesy of The Kind Life