Strawberries are at their peak right now. They’re overflowing in our garden and at the local farmer’s market. While I love making strawberry pie (with Paleo Pie Crust), sometimes I want to make something simpler.
This Strawberry Crisp can be whipped up in minutes. It’s an easy gluten-free dessert that is made with only five ingredients –strawberries, almond flour, salt, butter, and slivered almonds. If you’re dairy-free, I also tested this recipe with palm shortening and it was delicious.
When I was developing this Strawberry Crisp recipe I made it close to a dozen times. My boys were faithful taste testers, sampling every batch. Often, they smothered these cute little strawberry crisps with whipped cream while still warm. If you can’t consume dairy you can top Strawberry Crisp with Coconut Whipped Cream. It’s delicious! You can find that recipe in Paleo Cooking from Elana’s Pantry. All of the recipes in it are dairy-free, as well as gluten-free and grain-free. I worked diligently to make the recipes extremely simple, using as few ingredients as possible.
- 1 pound strawberries, sliced in quarters
- ½ cup blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
- ¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- 1 tablespoon butter or palm shortening
- ½ cup blanched slivered almonds
- Pile sliced strawberries in 5 half-cup ramekins until overflowing, and place on a baking sheet
- Bake strawberries at 350º for 30 minutes
- Meanwhile, make topping in food processor
- Pulse almond flour, salt and butter until pea-sized pieces of dough form
- Briefly pulse in slivered almonds
- Remove ramekins from oven
- Spoon topping over baked strawberries
- Bake 20-30 minutes at 350º, until topping is golden-brown
- Remove from oven and serve
It’s not always a cinch to create simple recipes. I find that using less ingredients requires far more work during the creative process. It’s also challenging to produce dessert recipes with no added sweetener. As I mentioned in my When Things Fall Apart post, I’ve cut way back on the sweet stuff lately.
Sugar in any processed form, natural or not, can be a crutch when it comes to flavor. Once you get used to it though, eliminating maple syrup, honey, coconut sugar, or other added sweeteners can become advantageous. The taste of many ingredients that often fade into the background, have a chance to shine. And, when you give up added sweeteners for a month or more, fruit tastes like candy.
For this Strawberry Crisp recipe you will need to pile the fresh strawberries super high in the ramekins and then bake them down as instructed. When you make the topping, pulse the slivered almonds very briefly. Leaving them somewhat coarse adds a wonderful crunch to the crisp.
Here are some of my other recipes that are a bit lower in sugar than the usual fare:
Carol Costello says
Oh my goodness Elana, a dessert that I can have! Thank you so much. No sugar,perfect! You are an angel!
Elana says
Thanks Carol! I hope you love it xoxox
Jessica says
I have celiacs so I’ve been gluten & dairy free for a few years so I’ve been using your recipes for awhile. But we recently went paleo and I have been craving sugar like crazy. I just made these and I’m eating it as my appetizer for dinner. I added a little shredded coconut to the crumble. Delicious, definitely will be making again!
Kathy says
I would have liked a little sweet added but it was really good and this is one I will make again!!!
Deb says
Made this for dessert today. It reminded me of strawberry soaked shortcake. Hubby liked the nut topping.
Kara says
Just wondering if I can make this without the ramekins? I don’t have any and this looks so good.
Alice says
I haven’t located my ramekins since a big move. Instead I’m using the small teacups from my good china. They are dishwasher/microwave/oven safe. I would probably think twice about using them for kids/toddlers, though. It’s only the two of us adults, now.
Heidi says
Easy tasty recipe, but we found the topping to be too salty. Any ideas for reducing salt and adding some spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.?
Melanie says
Perhaps, exclude the salt, or use unsalted butter.
Deryn @ Running on Real Food says
I love the simplicity of this recipe! I’m sure it would be delicious with any fresh fruit too. The simpler the better for me when it comes to cooking, especially desserts so this looks perfect. Thanks for sharing!
Ruth Hirsch says
Thank you, Elana. thank you for the recipe, and thank you for the wake up vis a vis sweets. Right now I am so hooked into sweets. And while not packaged sweets, as you point put, they still have impact. Aaaaaaarrrrgh. I am not committing to give them up; it wouldn’t be sincere. But thank you for helping me notice more.
I do miss non-sweet snacks: I miss crunch. this year I have not made kale chips. I have had crunch apple chips, that’s a good snack. Gets the crunch + unsweetened sweet.
I would love it if you come up with more un-sweet snacks. Especially if not calorie dense; while my weight is fine, I would like it to stay so. Once– for a long time– it wasn’t.
may everyone have a weekend with moments of joy and delight,
Ruth
Jill says
I didn’t make the Strawberry recipe but following the links I was inspired to make the almond pie crust and used English Bramley apples to make the apple tart filling. It was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS for breakfast, dinner, Tea and supper, hot, cold, with or without the coconut cream. Wonderful… many thanks.. I shall try the Strawberry recipe.. but I gave my ramekins away because of lack of use so I shall have to get some more!.
Brenda says
Almost cheated and put a little Splenda in the strawberries – glad I didn’t – this is delicious!
Rose says
This is delicious! We were out of slivered almonds, so I used shredded coconut in its place. We enjoyed it last night for dessert and breakfast this morning! Great recipe, thank you!
Wendy says
I tried this recipe with blueberries and raspberries (but instead of using ramekins, I used an 8×8 glass baking dish). It turned out wonderfully!
Elizabeth says
Did you use the same baking time? I was thinking blueberries since I just picked them fresh.
Charlotte Travis says
Can frozen strawberries be used instead of fresh, and, if so, how long would I bake them before adding the topping?
Thanks, Charlotte T
Debra Schramm says
I’d like to know also.
Elana says
Hi Charlotte and Debra, I haven’t tried that, but it sounds like a substitution that could work. I’m not sure how the baking times would need to be adjusted though, and if it would be too watery, since frozen strawberries seem to have so much liquid when they are thawed. If either of you do experiment I hope you’ll let us know what changes you make to adapt the recipe!
Liz Overton says
Oooh… this looks really good! I’ll have to try it soon!
Ilona @ Ilona's Passion says
Delicious and healthy dessert.. it is on my list to make this weekend:)
Mia says
Thank you once again Elana! I look forward to making this this soon!
Carla Rose says
Wonderful! I’m glad this doesn’t have added sweeteners! I will definitely try this.
Jen says
Thanks soooo much for adding low-carb, no sweetener treats to your site. I just gave up sweeteners last month and feel amazing. Your site is my first stop for reliable paleo baking…and now low sugar/carb too! Bonus!
ardysez says
Haha, I agree with MemaNumy, a new use for all those ramekins now that I don’t eat creme brûlée! I have been amazed how much my tastes have changed since reducing sweeteners to almost nothing. Thanks for the recipe. It’s not strawberry season here quite yet, but will save this for when it is!
Nancy says
Wonderful idea!!
MemaNumy says
Finally! A use for all those ramekins I bought for making crème brûlée before we went dairy free! I’m excited to try this :)
catherine says
I’ve found the same thing as I’ve moved towards more simple and less sweetened baking–once you reduce (or remove) sweeteners, all the other flavors can really shine through. And it’s so nice to really appreciate the sweetness present in just fruit. This crisp recipe looks fantastic!
Kristi Cooke, NTP says
No added sweeteners – I love it! :)
Danielle @ Chits and Chats and Chocolate says
These look so healthy and fabulous, I’m gonna go get some strawberries!
Marlene says
Can coconut flour be a substitute?
Vicki says
It woukd really help to have nutritional info on all your recipes
HappyForks.com says
Vicki, check out Recipe Analyzer on our website, if you want to have nutritional information for all recipies which you’re going to prepare. This crisp for example has 164 calories. For more information about nutrients, you can try it by yourself
DamselflyDiary says
Hmmm, I think I am going to make this recipe and then eat it for breakfast! What’s better than almonds and strawberries? I am sick of my traditional breakfast of gluten free toast with almond butter. This sounds way better!