Maple Pumpkin Crumble

Satisfy your autumn cravings with a new take on the seasonal fruit crumble. The crumb layer that tops this maple pumpkin dessert is tasty, generous, and made without a bit of butter. As for the filling, it’s sweetened only with maple syrup and much lighter than a traditional pumpkin filling.

If you’re like me and enjoy sweets on the regular, seasonal crumbles are probably high on your list of go-to desserts. From time to time, they need a little shake up though. That’s where the olive oil based crumb and lighter approach to pumpkin come into play.

As you know from my chocolate chip olive oil muffins and some dessert recipes you’ll find on Thirsty Radish, I only use olive oil when the results have a satisfying flavor. For baking I recommend starting with a mild and buttery extra virgin olive oil, as more robust varieties may overwhelm the dish. Once you get more used to baking with olive oil, you might actually enjoy the peppery kick from a stronger variety, but mild and buttery is the best way to start when you’re whipping up dessert.

Ingredients

1, 15-ounce can of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
½ cup pure maple syrup
1 egg
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
⅓ cup light brown sugar
⅓ cup granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil (mild and buttery variety)

Pumpkins have begun popping up at farmers markets and around town, and as you can see from these photographs, a particular twisty stemmed one made it into my basket. More are sure to follow. Fortunately, I didn’t even have to cook one to make this recipe. Canned pumpkin puree works deliciously when combined with maple syrup, an egg, and just a bit of salt. Here’s how to put everything together.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Combine the pumpkin puree, maple syrup, egg, and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk until smooth. Pour into an 8-inch square baking dish.

Now it’s time to make the crumble topping. Combine the flour, light brown sugar, granulated sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Whisk to combine. Pour the olive oil over the mixture and use your hands to combine until the mixture feels like wet sand. Use your hands to form the mixture into crumbs of any size, then sprinkle over the topping.

Bake for about 35 minutes, until the filling is set and the crumb topping has become golden.