Plum and maple crumble with butter-free topping

I think my healthy host's habits are rubbing off on me (sorry, the cheesy alliteration was unintentional). I went round to a friend's house for Sunday lunch yesterday and offered to bring a traditional English pud for them to try. This was the perfect excuse to bring heaps of butter, sugar and white flour back into my diet, all in the name of tradition, but somehow I couldn't bring myself to do it. I had become used to the quiet smugness of eating guilt free food, and didn't want to lose it just yet. Having said that, I will quite openly admit that I may be less saintly as I return to my chilly English home - autumn wouldn't be the same for me without pies, puddings and roast dinners.

Aside from the smugness, using oil instead of butter in the topping also has another advantage - speed. Without the need to rub in the butter, you can just mix together the topping all in one go. The maple syrup in the topping adds a bit of extra moisture to bind the dry ingredients together, but it also gives this dish a warm caramelly after taste which works beautifully with the sharp plums and the slightly salty nuts. Having gone quite far off piste with this recipe, I was a little nervous of the outcome, but I have to say I was pretty bowled over by this one and it got a reassuring big thumbs up from my Italian hosts.

Recipe inspired by:
BBC Good Food's Maple Plum Crumble
and Chocolate and Zucchini's Butterless Apple Crumble

8-10 large plums, halved and stoned
3 tbsp. maple syrup

250g spelt flour
Half a teaspoon of salt
50g whole almonds, skin on, roughly crushed and toasted
50g whole hazelnuts, skin on, roughly crushed and toasted
100ml corn oil
100g soft brown sugar
2 tbsp. maple syrup

• Arrange the plum halves (skin down) in your chosen pie dish (they should just squeeze in to make 1 single layer).
• Drizzle over 3 tbsp. maple syrup, then bake in the oven at 180 degrees c for 10 - 15 minutes until softened (they'll become all sticky and syrupy during the second cook with the crumble topping).
• Meanwhile, combine all the topping ingredients in a large bowl - you can just do this with a wooden spoon/your hands as, thanks to the use of oil, there's no need to rub in lots of cubes of butter.
• Pour this topping over the plums (you may not want to use it all - this makes quite a thick topping) and bake in the oven for 30 - 40 minutes at 160 degrees - you may need to turn the heat down a little part way through as you don't want the top to burn (dark golden is perfect) but you do want the topping to be cooked all the way through - you don't want it to be undercooked and stodgy.
• Serve with anything creamy - I always go for yoghurt as I love its sharpness, but the Italians here seem to think it a crime to eat yoghurt anytime other than breakfast... so I just had to force myself to eat it with Italian gelato - poor me!!