Plum and Amaretto Crumble

Crumble season is well and truly upon us and I’m telling you now, this gluten free plum crumble with amaretto is just the absolute dream.

With seasonal, juicy plums and the sweet fragrance of marzipan, this gluten free plum crumble will warm you from the inside out.

It’s the ultimate comfort food dessert which a cheeky little alcoholic kick – and it’s goes perfectly with ice-cream or custard!

When are plums in season?

I’m currently writing this recipe on a brisk September morning, right in plum season in the UK. 

Plums are in season in the UK from August to October, so now is the perfect time to make this gluten free crumble.

I am starting to love cooking with seasonal fruit and veg, as it means it’s cheaper, easier to get hold of and tastes at its best.

It also means less food miles – if you’re lucky enough you might even have a plum tree in your garden to grow your own crop.

I like to use ripe plums for this recipe to add to the sweetness – I tend to buy ‘ripen at home’ punnets a few days before I want to make this so they’re perfect come baking time.

If you’re visiting from the US, plum season over there tends to run May to October, depending on where you are.

If plums aren’t quite in season when you stumble across this recipe, I do have some other options on my site too!

Why not try my gluten free apple and blackberry dessert instead, or even these cherry and ginger oaty crumble bars, which use frozen cherries so can be made all year round.

How to make gluten free crumble

 I do love a gluten free crumble and it’s just such an easy dessert to throw together depending on which fruit is in season.

You may have noticed how whenever you first try baking gluten free cakes, bread or cookies, they can often go dry and crumbly.

In this recipe, we’re using that in our favour!

The gluten is what creates elasticity in a bake – so actually in a recipe like crumble, which we actually want to crumble and fall apart, gluten free flour works a charm.

I basically always follow the same crumble recipe my Mum taught me pre-coeliac, and replicate it with gluten free flour.

I find this works really well without having to make any changes and creates a buttery and sweet topping for any dish.

On top of these sweet plums with amaretto, it’s a delightful dessert which could easily sit and scoff down way too much of!

How do I make this plum crumble?

This gluten free plum crumble with amaretto is super cheap and easy to make and you only need a few ingredients to do so.

There’s a full printable recipe card below, but for the shopping list you’ll need the following ingredients:

For the crumble:

• 75g caster sugar
• 75g unsalted butter
• 150g gluten free self-raising flour

For the filling:

• 500g plums (halved and stoned)
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp amaretto

See, super simple! Buying plums in season will make this recipe much cheaper to make as well which is a bonus, and it’ll taste better.

The rest are just storecupboard basics and you can easily make some swaps if needed. Which leads me on to my next bit…

Swaps and substitutions

A lot of these ingredients are baking basics, so you should have them to hand, but you can make some swaps if needed.

Of course, if you don’t want the alcohol or just don’t like almonds, you can omit the amaretto and this plum crumble will still taste amazing.

If you want to keep the frangipane taste without the alcohol you could add a handful or marzipan, broken into tiny pieces, into the plum mix.

This would create the same delicious flavour but without having to add any alcohol at all.

If you only have caster sugar then you can use this instead of brown sugar in the filling, as I know brown sugar has been hard to get hold of with lockdown lately.

And if you fancy giving this a go but can’t have dairy or want to make it vegan, simply swap the butter for a dairy free replacement.

I prefer the Stork baking block as it’s closer to the texture of butter so it shouldn’t affect the crumble texture too much.

If you don’t have any self-raising gluten free flour, just add 1 tsp of baking powder to plain gluten free flour instead.

Other than that it’s really only the plums – and if you don’t like them, this may not be the recipe for you!

My gluten free plum crumble recipe

Plums at the ready – it’s time to make some gluten free crumble!

This recipe serves 4-6 people and I’d recommend serving up the crumble hot with some ice-cream or custard.

You can keep leftovers in the fridge overnight and reheat the next day, but any longer and you might find the crumble softens and won’t crisp up again. It’s best eaten fresh!

If you make this recipe and love it, please do let me know by tagging me on my Instagram or using #theglutenfreeblogger. I love seeing your bakes!

And please do leave a review to let others know you loved it too! It would mean the world to me. 

Need some more gluten free baking inspiration?

Want to have a go at some of the other gluten free baking recipes on the blog?

Give some of these other gluten free cake recipes a try!

There are plenty to choose from – here are a couple to get you going:

• Cherry and ginger oaty crumble bars
• Apple and blackberry crumble
• Gluten free carrot and hazelnut cake with orange cream cheese frosting
• Apple and Strawberry Crumble
• Apple Crumble Recipe

If you do make this recipe please let me know! I’d love to see your photos using #theglutenfreeblogger, share them in my Facebook group or tag me on Instagram. 

And if you have any recipe suggestions, please let me know in the comments what you’d like to see next!

Like this recipe? Make sure you pin these recipe cards below for later!