Blackberry Breakfast Crumble with Maple Yogurt

I seem to be rather fond of making desserts into breakfast lately (see here).  I think part of it is that I want to see if I can make a dessert healthy enough to eat for breakfast.  The other part, if I can be honest, is that I get excited about being able to eat a “dessert” for breakfast.  I typically eat the same thing during the week (granola, overnight oats, more granola, etc.) so it’s nice to change it up on the weekends when I have more time to invest in what I can make.

These crumbles came about when I brought home a large box of local blackberries from the farmers market.  I really wanted to enjoy some for breakfast but not in the “throw them on top of some granola” way that I normally do during the week.  For some reason I really wanted to use some quinoa flakes, so I figured I could make a topping with them for the berries, sort of like a crumble.  I couldn’t leave well enough alone so I ended up adding some almond meal, shredded coconut, and chia seeds to the quinoa flakes.  And, I ended up making a maple-spiked yogurt to top it off.  The yogurt gives you some added protein and healthy bacteria and creates a nice contrast both in texture and flavor.  It only took one bite for me to realize this was the perfect Sunday morning breakfast, and I hope you’ll agree.  Oh, and in case you have some leftovers, the crumble makes a lovely dessert as well 🙂

Blackberry Breakfast Crumble with Maple Yogurt
notes: I ended up making 2 individual crumbles in some weck jars since I don’t have many small baking vessels.  Feel free to use whatever you have on hand.  If you don’t have or can’t find quinoa flakes, use an equal amount of rolled oats.  

1 pint fresh blackberries

1/2 tbsp arrowroot or tapioca starch

1 tsp fresh lemon juice
splash of maple syrup if you berries aren’t too sweet (optional)

1/3 cup quinoa flakes

2 tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut (or more almond meal if you don’t like coconut)

2 tbsp almond meal/flour
tsp of chia seeds

small pinch of salt

1/8 tsp cardamom

heaping tbsp solid room temp coconut oil

1 tbsp pure maple syrup

1 cup plain yogurt (greek style cultured coconut milk yogurt is my favorite option)

maple syrup (just enough to temper the tang of the yogurt, about 1 tbsp or so)

Preheat your oven to 350.  Taste your berries first to determine their sweetness.  If they are perfect as is, do not add any maple syrup to the berry mixture.  If they seem a bit tart, add a splash of maple syrup to the berries.  Toss together the blackberries, arrowroot, and lemon juice until combined.  Add the berries to a small baking dish along with any juices that have accumulated in the bowl.  Toss together the quinoa flakes, coconut, almond meal, chia seeds, salt, and cardamom until combined.  Add the coconut oil and maple syrup and mash them in with a fork until the mixture sticks together and looks crumbly.  Top the berries with the crumble mixture.  Bake the crumble for 25 to 30 minutes until the juices from the berries are bubbling and the crumble topping is golden.

While the crumble is cooling a bit, make the maple yogurt.  Simply add a bit of maple syrup to your yogurt and stir to combine.  You want enough maple syrup to just cut the tang of the yogurt, about a tbsp or so.  Serve the maple yogurt alongside or on top of the crumble.  Makes 2 large or 4 small servings.