One of the first things I ever loved to bake was a Quick Cherry Crunch from the 1975 edition of the Joy of Cooking cookbook. I always made it with blueberries (I was a "tweaker" even then....) I've been working on a paleo version of that and I've got it right.... right here.... right now. I don't miss the oatmeal or white sugar at all!!!!
I preheated the oven to 350 degrees and rubbed coconut oil on a 9 x 12 inch glass baking dish.
This photo will help you with the 4 parts of this recipe - a picture's worth a thousand words. Parts 1 through 4 go from the bottom left to the top right of the photo.
Part 1 - I put 1/2 cup POM pomegranate juice and 1 1/2 TBSP Arrowroot powder in a small bowl and stirred. (If you haven't used arrowroot powder, it replaces corn starch in a much better way) I let that stand probably 10 minutes while I did everything else.
Part 2 - Into a 2-cup measure, I put:
1/4 cup pasture butter (Irish butter)
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup raw honey
I heated this mixture in the microwave until liquid so I could stir it.
Part 3 - In a mixing bowl I put:
3/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
2 TBSP arrowroot powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cup nuts ( I used 1/2 cup toasted pecan pieces and 1/2 cup macadamia nut pieces)
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut chips (the big chunky kind from nuts.com or tropicaltraditions.com) The coconut is optional but so delicious!
Part 4 - 3 cups fruit. (I used 2 cups frozen blueberries, thawed, and 1 cup apple-sweetened dried cranberries. I've used all fresh blueberries, too. Any berry mixture will be good, like blackberries, or raspberries.)
Now, everything was ready. I stirred Part 2 and poured it into the mixing bowl of Part 3. I stirred with a wooden spoon, until blended and thickened to make the pastry mixture. I pushed half of it into the baking dish. It didn't cover the bottom of the dish but it plumps up a lot when it cooks, so don't worry. Here's a photo from the last time I made it.
See?
Next, I put Part 4, the fruit into the dish and spread out the fruit.
Then I stirred up Part 1 again, because the arrowroot powder sat in the bottom of the POM juice. I poured this over the fruit.
The last thing I did was put the second half of the pastry mixture (Parts 2 and 3) on the top and baked for 30 minutes. Paleo Perfection!
This is after-dinner ankle stretching - Outlaw approved.
