One winter, I was craving an apple crumble for dessert. Unfortunately, we were out of apples. But there were plenty of bananas. So I tried my hand at making up a crumble from scratch with the ingredients I had on hand.

The result was a warm and comforting winter dessert with a contrast of textures between the soft, caramelized bananas and the crispy, crumble mixture. It’s such an easy recipe that makes a lovely dessert from a few ingredients you likely have in your pantry.

I was on a health and fitness kick in 2014, which is roughly when I came up with this recipe. And that’s how I explain the inclusion of quick oats. All you need is bananas, brown sugar, butter and quick oats. 

Since making this, it is now my husband’s favourite dessert. And I’ve even taken all of the ingredients to friends’ houses and made it there.

This recipe is also a great way to use up any soft bananas or even the over-ripe bananas that aren’t quite ready for banana bread.

I love this great recipe because it doesn’t call for plain flour, whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour or even almond flour. Which makes this recipe naturally gluten-free.

Can I make it ahead?

If you need to, you can prepare the crumble portion in advance. Just combine your ingredients and cover the bowl in plastic wrap or cling film.

If you are wanting to make this banana crumble recipe for dessert, take some cold butter out of the fridge around dinner time. This will make sure the butter can easily be combined with the brown sugar.

The best way to eat this dessert is straight from the oven topped with ice cream. And as it’s a single serve, there shouldn’t be any leftovers!

Banana Crumble

Banana Crumble

Yield: 1
Prep Time: 3 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 3 minutes

This banana crumble recipe can easily be doubled, tripled or adjusted to suit any number of people.

Ingredients

  • 1 banana
  • 1 tbs brown sugar
  • 1 tbs butter (room temperature works best)
  • 1 tbs quick oats
  • vanilla ice cream for serving

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180 C

Prepare the banana

  1. Peel the banana
  2. Slice the banana into 1cm thick disks and place them in an oven-safe dessert-sized bowl

Crumble Topping

  1. In a separate bowl, combine the brown sugar and butter with a spoon or knife until smooth
  2. Add the quick oats to the sugar-butter mix and combine
  3. Sprinkle the crumb topping over the banana

Baking

  1. Put the bowl on an oven tray for easier handling
  2. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes or until the crumble turns a golden brown
  3. Transfer the bowl to a heatproof mat or tea towel, it will be hot!
  4. Serve with vanilla ice cream

Notes

Additional Ingredients

  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 1 tbs chocolate chips
  • 1 tbs chopped nuts like walnuts, pecans or slivered almonds
  • other fruits like blueberries, raspberries, apples or rhubarb
  • chocolate, caramel or butterscotch sauce for serving

Substitutes

  • coffee infused butter
  • vegan butter
  • melted coconut oil in place of butter
  • white sugar
  • vanilla bean ice cream

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© Kathleen

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