Snuggle up with a warm, aromatic feijoa crumble flavoured with orange and cinnamon. Or enjoy it cold.
[A dairy, refined sugar and flour-free recipe]
So what are feijoas?
If you are asking this question, know that you are not alone! Before moving to New Zealand, I hadn’t heard of feijoas. However, here, they’re pretty much a tradition.
In New Zealand, many people have a feijoa tree in their yard and often have too many fruits. So many, in fact, that people give them away. However, you can also purchase them at the supermarket.
Back to what they actually are…
Feijoas are also known as pineapple guava, which probably helps you imagine their flavour and texture.
They are juicy, sweet, tart and floral, with a jelly-like and gritty texture.
They can be eaten with the skin on. However, the fruit is usually cut in half to scoop out the flesh.
They can be eaten raw, poached, roasted or combined into various sweet and savoury dishes.
Dishes featuring feijoas range from jams, pastes and chutneys to crumbles, muffins and cakes. You can even find it as an ice cream flavour, which you can buy commercially or make yourself. Mmmm… feijoa ice cream. I might have to make that next!
However, as a beginner to feijoas, I thought a crumble was a safe way to go.
I’ve got to admit the flavour of this crumble is to die for—I absolutely love it!
The success of this recipe is not only a consequence of the flavour of the feijoas themselves but also the addition of orange juice and zest in the filling and topping. Yummo.
Ingredients for this feijoa crumble recipe
To make this feijoa crumble, you will need the following.
Filling Ingredients
- Fresh feijoas
- Dice apples, either pre-cooked or canned
- Orange, zest and juice
- Honey or maple syrup
Canned diced apples are a great way to make this recipe fast.
However, if you choose to use fresh apples, granny smith apples are best. Peel the apples before cooking and dice them into 1.5 cm cubes.
You could pre-cook the apple in the microwave. Dice and microwave for 60 – 90 seconds until softened. They will cook further when baking the crumble, so you don’t want to overcook them.
Alternatively, they could be lightly sauteéd in a frying pan or pot with a few tablespoons of water, as you don’t want them to be fully stewed before combining them with the feijoa. You want to maintain some texture.
Crumble Ingredients
- Almond meal
- Wholegrain oats
- Shredded coconut
- Rice bran oil (or other neutral-tasting vegetable oil)
- Orange, zest
- Honey or maple syrup
- Cinnamon
- Salt
How to make this apple and feijoa crumble
Combine all the filling ingredients in a baking dish suitable for your crumble.
Combine all the crumble topping ingredients in another bowl and then sprinkle over the filling.
Then it is just a matter of baking it in a preheated oven at 160oC fan bake or 180oC conventional oven for 30 – 40 minutes until the topping goldens.
If the crumble topping cooks too fast—aka burns—you may need to cover the crumble in foil for half the cooking time or lower the oven temperature.
How to serve this crumble
This crumble is delicious on its own or can be served with yogurt, cream, custard or ice cream.
The crumble could also be prepared in ramekins for single-serve crumbles.
Hey, there is no reason you couldn’t have it for breakfast. There is no rule you can’t have dessert for breakfast!
Storage
Cool the crumble to room temperature, then cover and keep in the fridge for up to 4 days.
It will also keep in the freezer for up to six months. You may freeze the entire crumble or individual servings.
How to reheat feijoa crumble
You can either reheat the crumble in the microwave or cover it with foil and reheat it in the oven at 180oC until warmed through.
Crumble is also delicious cold. So that’s another option.
Don’t have access to feijoa’s?
If you don’t have access to feijoas, all is not lost.
You could definitely switch them for soft stone fruit, such as plums or peaches. Or simply make this crumble with 800 g stewed or canned apple. The orange juice and zest will ramp up the flavour of apples, making for a delicious dessert or snack.
Another option is to make a stewed rhubarb and raspberry crumble for a delectable tart dessert. For this option, switch the feijoas with a rhubarb mixture and omit the orange juice and zest in the filling.
Is this feijoa and apple crumble vegan?
This crumble can easily be made vegan by switching out the honey for maple syrup.
Make this feijoa crumble gluten-free
Unless using oats that are labelled gluten-free, this crumble contains gluten. Furthermore, some people following a gluten-free diet need to avoid oats.
Therefore, if you are following a gluten-free diet or wish to make this crumble for someone eating gluten-free, you will want to switch the oats for quinoa flakes.
Alternatively, you could use cold butter and gluten-free flour to create a cobbler-style topping. In this case, you would combine regular or vegan butter with the other ingredients using your fingers to create a crumbly mixture.
Did you try this crumble recipe?
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments below. Your feedback is appreciated as it cheers me on to keep sharing recipes while letting others know about modifications I may not have considered.
Enjoy!
Feijoa Crumble
Ingredients
Ingredients – Filling
- 1 kg feijoas, flesh scooped out and roughly chopped
- 1 can diced apples or pre-cooked apples (~380 g)
- 1 tablespoon orange zest, finely grated
- 1 orange, juice of
- 2 teaspoons honey or maple syrup
Ingredients – Crumble Topping
- ½ cup almond meal
- ¾ cup wholegrain oats
- 2 tablespoons shredded coconut
- 2 tablespoons rice bran oil, or other neutral-tasting vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon orange zest, finely grated
- 2 teaspoons honey or maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 160oC fan bake / 180oC conventional oven.
- Combine the honey and orange juice in a medium-sized baking dish. Then mix through the feijoas, diced apple and orange zest.
- Combine all crumble ingredients in a bowl and mix together.
- Spoon crumble topping over the feijoa and apple filling. Alternatively, you could make mini crumbles in ovenproof ramekins.
- Bake until the topping is golden, approximately 30-40 minutes.
- Serve with yogurt, custard or ice cream.
Notes
5 comments
Great article, just what I was looking for Feijoa.
Thank you for sharing.
It’s a good recipe but the oats burnt on the top within 10 mins :-(. I think fan ovens should be on 160c.
I’m pleased you enjoyed the recipe, Julie.
Thank you for your feedback – that burnt fast!
I’ll adjust the recipe for conventional oven vs fan, but also test it again. Lucky for me!
I haven’t made it yet. Can you use just feijoas instead of adding apples
You absolutely could, Jenny.
The apples are added to mellow the feijoa flavour. However, there is no reason you couldn’t use all feijoas. Let me know how to goes!