EASY VEGAN BERRY CRUMBLE BARS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH BALL® FRESHTECH AUTOMATIC JAM AND JELLY MAKER (AD)
Disclosure: This is a paid partnership with BALL®. All opinions expressed in this blog post are my own and I was in no way influenced by the company.
Confession, I’ve never made jam before! I know, I’ve been a food blogger for soooo long, love seasonal, home-made vegan food, hence this confession is rather embarrassing. But, hear me out! I’m also a busy working mama and love quick and easy options; making my own jam seemed complicated, time consuming and fussy. As a result, I always turned to pre-made jams instead. I realised this was such a shame as we grow our own seasonal fruit in the garden and forage berries and such during the height of summer like no one’s business, often left with no other option than to freeze them or eat excessive amounts on the spot * blush *.
So you can imagine my excitement when BALL® reached out as part of their “My Bake My Jam’ campaign, and asked me to try their FRESHTECH AUTOMATIC JAM AND JELLY MAKER. The machine, they promised, would turn jam and jelly making into child’s play. How could I say no to this fun opportunity?!?
MAKING SEASONAL JAM IS EASY!
Together with my 10-year-old son we headed straight to the garden and picked all the ripe red currants we could find. Because red currants can be rather tart, we also went out to the farmer’s market and picked up some raspberries as they’re in peak season at the moment and would add a softer note to the jam we wanted to create. After prepping the fruit, it only took 21 (!) minutes to create the jam, without the need to stir or stand by, meaning I had time to get on with other bits and pieces in the interim.
As promised, despite being a novice jam maker, the jam came out perfect, thanks to the BALL® FRESHTECH AUTOMATIC JAM AND JELLY MAKER! Not too runny and not too firm. Bliss! I also loved the fact that I didn’t have to cook huge quantities to still make the jam making process rewarding and worthwhile. In fact, we created enough jam to make today’s easy vegan berry crumble bars, whilst still having 1 whole jar left over for us to enjoy with our toast for days to come!
THOUGHTS ABOUT BALL® FRESHTECH AUTOMATIC JAM AND JELLY MAKER
VERSATILE
The machine is excellent and does all it promises and more. Though we went for a sweet jam, there’s nothing stopping you from creating a savoury chutney or bitter marmalade, the machine does it all!
EASY AND SAFE TO USE
I could have left my 10-year-old to create the jam all on his own - the lid has holes on the side, allowing for any excess moisture to safely escape whilst keeping you and your kitchen safe from jam splashes and splutters.
FOOLPROOF
There is no way you can go wrong here, as long as you ensure you’ve got the right fruit, sugar and pectin ratio, you cannot and will not misstep here, I promise.
PUTTING PRESERVING, SEASONALITY AND SUSTAINABILITY FIRST
Food waste is real and preserving seasonal products is a way of stopping us throwing away perfectly beautiful, delicious, seasonal plant-based foods. BALL®’S FRESHTECH AUTOMATIC JAM AND JELLY MAKER can help us honour seasonally abundant foods whilst living a more sustainable, scrumptious life as well.
ANYTHING WRONG WITH BALL®’S FRESHTECH AUTOMATIC JAM AND JELLY MAKER?
You know I always keep it real on the blog, on un short NO, there’s is nothing I didn’t like about BALL®’S FRESHTECH AUTOMATIC JAM AND JELLY MAKER, I’d happily have bought it myself and can imagine gifting one to a loved one for Christmas. However, I have a large kitchen with ample storage space, but if your kitchen is on the smaller side, do ensure you have space to keep the machine as it is a tad too big to keep on your kitchen counter permanently.
WHERE CAN I GET THE BALL®’S FRESHTECH AUTOMATIC JAM AND JELLY MAKER?
In store on online at Lakeland.
WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH ALL THE JAM YOU’LL CREATE?
Well, you could make my super easy and delicious vegan berry crumble bars for starters! You’ll find the recipe below. Thanks BALL® for this wonderful paid collaboration opportunity and thanks everyone for reading. Now please scroll down for today’s recipe.
EASY VEGAN BERRY CRUMBLE BARS RECIPE
Crumble bar recipe inspired by Pinch of Yum.
FOR THE BERRY JAM
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 21 minutes
Makes: approx. 900ml jam
INGREDIENTS FOR THE BERRY JAM :
750g mixed seasonal berries, washed, stems removed (we used 400g red currants and 350g raspberries)
1 vanilla pod, split in half
3 Tbsp Ball® Jam Setting Mix with Pectin
1/2 tsp vegan butter
650g caster sugar
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE BERRY JAM:
With a potato masher, crush the berries, allowing only a few berries to remain in tact and whole.
Next, distribute the pectin evenly over the bottom of BALL®’S FRESHTECH AUTOMATIC JAM AND JELLY MAKER, add the crushed fruit and vanilla, top with the vegan butter to minimise any foaming and cover the FRESHTECH AUTOMATIC JAM AND JELLY MAKER with its lid. From there follow the instructions, adding the caster sugar about 4 minutes into the cooking process.
Once the jam has been made, remove the vanilla pod, transfer the jam to a sterilised jam jar immediate, and allow to cool before storing it in your cupboard, fridge or freezer.
FOR THE EASY VEGAN BERRY CRUMBLE BARS
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Makes: 9 large or 16 smaller bars
INGREDIENTS FOR THE EASY VEGAN BERRY CRUMBLE BARS
300ml berry jam (see above)
125g sunflower seeds
1tsp ground ginger
300g porridge oats
1/4 teaspoon salt
120ml/90g coconut oil, melted + extra for greasing
60ml agave syrup
1 tbs cashew butter
Recipe instructions below…
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE EASY VEGAN BERRY CRUMBLE BARS:
Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 20cm (loose based) square cake tin with grease proof non-stick paper. Grease the sides with coconut oil and set aside.
In a food processor, combine the sunflower seeds, oats, ginger and salt, blend until a coarse, crumbly mixture has been formed.
In a small bowl, whisk together the melted coconut oil, syrup and cashew butter well with a fork. Then add this to the seed/oat/ginger/salt mixture. With a wooden spoon combine everything well; the mixture should hold together when pressed down with the spoon.
Set some aside for the crumbly topping (about a large handful) and firmly press the rest of the mixture into your prepared cake tin. Bake for 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven and spread the jam evenly over the top, then crumble the mixture you set aside over the jam and return to the oven for around 20 minutes.
When done, allow it to cool before transferring it to the fridge for about an hour. Then cut into the desired sized bars. You can enjoy the vegan berry crumble bars immediately, store in the fridge, or freeze to enjoy for weeks to come.
Tip 1: Haven’t got vanilla pods to hand, you can omit if need be or replace with a little bit of fresh thyme.
Tip 2: You can use pumpkin seeds instead of sunflower seeds or almond butter instead of cashew butter. If you wish to keep this nut free, you can use tahini in place of the nut butter.