Review & Recipe: Nutcase Crunch
Sometimes I really miss cereal and milk.
That seems like a strange thing to crave to me. I mean, pizza, baked brie, burritos — these things make sense. But a bowl of cereal? Who craves cereal?!
I do, apparently.
Sometimes I long for that crunchy, sweet, creamy combo that only a bowl of something crisp, swimming in cool milky goodness, can provide. And that’s where Nutcase Crunch can come in.
Created by Paleo-eater and CrossFitter Lisa Scotto, Nutcase Crunch is an “un-cereal” made from just four high-quality ingredients: almonds, pecans, unsweetened coconut, and pine nuts. It’s like granola, without all those annoying anti-nutrients! And because the coconut is unsweetened, Nutcase Crunch is less likely to release the Sugar Demon than paleo granola recipes that include lots of dried fruit. Just sprinkle some Nutcase Crunch in a bowl, top with fresh fruit, pour in coconut milk, and bam! Cereal! (UN-cereal?!)
See?
Or you can invest a little time and do something like this:
This recipe for Peach Almond Crisp is from my cookbook Well Fed: Paleo Recipes For People Who Love To Eat, and it was the winner of the Paleo Magazine award for Best Treat Recipe in 2012. Plus, it’s super yummy. Enjoy!
Peach Almond “Nutcase Crunch” Crisp
Serves 4-6 | Prep 15 min | Cook 40 min
Warm, tender fruit nestled under a blanket of cinnamon-scented, crumbly topping is the very definition of summer desserts. In each bite of sun-kissed peaches, you can taste the warm rains, and dirt, and languid afternoons. Happily, this recipe works equally well with frozen fruit, so even in the depth of winter, you can recreate golden days so tasty, you will need a spoon. (NOTE: This recipe is not approved for Whole30-ing, but it’s a great way to celebrate after.)
Ingredients:
1 pound peaches (2-3 medium), cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 4 cups)
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup Nutcase Crunch (or almond flour)
4 dried dates, pitted
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon coconut oil, chilled until solid, then diced
1/4 cup Nutcase Crunch (or sliced almonds)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.
In a medium bowl, mix the peaches, lemon zest, and lemon juice with a wooden spoon. Allow to rest at room temperature while you prepare the topping.
Place the Nutcase Crunch (or almond flour), dates, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a food processor. Pulse until combined. Sprinkle the chilled coconut oil chunks over the nuts. Pulse about 10 times, then process on high for 5-10 seconds, until there are no lumps. Pour the topping into a bowl and use a fork to mix in the additional 1/4 cup Nutcase Crunch (or sliced almonds).
For an 8-inch square pan: Pour the fruit into the pan, pressing it gently into place with the back of a wooden spoon. Sprinkle the almond topping over the fruit and lightly press it into the fruit with the back of the spoon. For individual ramekins: Place 4 ramekins on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Spoon generous 1/2 cup servings into individual ramekins, pressing the fruit into the ramekin with your hands. Press about 2 tablespoons of topping onto each ramekin.
Cover the crisp lightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake 5-10 minutes more, until browned. Serve while warm. Bonus points if you drizzle with chilled coconut milk.
Win a Nutcase Crunch Prize Pack
UPDATE: We have a winner! Thanks, everyone, for playing along!
Want to try Nutcase Crunch? One lucky winner will receive an insanely nutty prize pack filled with Nutcase Crunch goodness. The prize pack includes two (2) full-size sacks of Nutcase Crunch and three (3) single-serve sacks (for when you’ve got to grab a sack and run!) WARNING: Consuming Nutcase Crunch may induce spontaneous squirrel-like behavior.
Deadline to enter: 11:59 p.m. on Friday, July 26. I’ll randomly pick and announce a winner on Saturday, Julye 27.
To Enter: There are a lot of squirrels in Austin. A lot! And I have a theory that although they may look cute and cuddly, they’re actually secretly planning to take over the world. Post to the comments below and tell us if you think squirrels are cute, cuddly creatures or if, like me, you know they’re wily conspirators, plotting to conquer the globe and enslave us in their nut-cracking factories.
Get Nuttier
Cute – but only from a distance!
I live in NYC, and I am convinced squirrels are just rats with a cute costume!
Not a fan of squirrels! They eat our oranges, chuck them all over the yard, and steal from my garden. Darn rodents!
Wily little fellows, uprooting all my potted plants, eating my basil, and cracking their little nuts right on the front porch like a taunt.
I always thought they were cute until I took a business trip, and the place where it was held was so overrun with squirrels used to people feeding them that they were aggressive – I was walking across a grassy area in open toed shoes, and a bunch of them surrounded me like bullies demanding my lunch money – I was more than a little afraid one was going to bite my toes since I had nothing to give them.
We had an attic invasion by tenacious (and mean) squirrels — two years in a row, requiring a bit of sheet metal attached to the house to keep ’em out — so not a big fan of squirrels!
They’re cute AND they plan to take over the world. Much like our children.
They are pretty cute! And what’s cuter? Seeing my toddler try and catch one! 🙂
I know the squirrels are plotting! I caught one proselytizing at my dog. Seriously the dog was staring raptly at the chattering squirrel like she was hypnotized.
Squirrels are definitly conspiracy theorists.
Oh No! They are wily little critters who are planning on taking over all the nuts on our planet.
They are cute to a point but they are garden ruiners also, which makes me not like them so much.
Adorable! But sometimes annoying, too. 🙂
Cute..especially when my dog chases them!
Well – there are two of us odd birds out there then, because I crave LIFE cereal a lot!!! I would love to try this out. I think Squirrels are scary and plotting against us all. Noooo thank you.
Pretty sure they’re both. My college campus was infested!
I think they’re really cute AND involved in evil plots. That car insurance commercial where the squirrels cause a car accident, yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s real.
Side note: when I was in college I was a very picky vegetarian. Dorm food was terrible and I wound up eating cereal *a lot.* I would have a “healthy” cereal for dinner and then a sweet cereal for dessert often! And I do miss cereal and milk.
Definitely trying to take over…
I love squirrels! My campus is full of them and they are a constant source of entertainment! They are cute creatures who are always giving people “the eye” as they walk by. Hilarious!
Cute and cuddly.
Squirrels are wily beings with ill intent toward human-kind. I try to keep away from them.
I was visiting my sister in law in Dallas last week (we’re from Ca) and they had cereal in the house…I was so tempted by it. That is one of the main things I crave sometimes since switching to real food.
As for the squirrels, I’m pretty sure they’re all plotting world domination.
Squirrels are crazy in Austin. They taunt my dogs (everyday – same squirrel)…taunt my children who want to chase them…and overall and nutty (pun intended)! I have yet to travel anywhere in Austin and not see them everywhere!! They are indeed probably planning to steal from all the healthy Austinites! Maybe the squirrels just know we have good food?
Squirrels are definitely scary and up to no good. If they had bigger brains, we would be in real trouble.
Conspirators for sure. It was very warm here last winter and I noticed an odd amount of squirrels hanging around. They are for sure getting ready to do something dangerous.
squirrels are evil incarnate. One of the little devils got itself trapped in our basement once – we were terrified to go down there and set a (Havahart) trap for it! It trashed our basement trying to get out and we just sat upstairs in the living room cringing to the sounds of destruction!
Gray squirrels are cute, but a total menace if you’re trying to feed songbirds. Red squirrels are pretty, but vicious and destructive. And you’re not alone, Melissa. I miss cereal (granola and cream, specifically) at least once a week – and I’ve been paleo for almost 3 years.
Don’t trust their furry, cuteness! Squirrels are rampantly canvassing the earth, a global recon mission of sorts. One square inch at a time they gather information, under the guise of innocently “looking for nuts”, in order to take over the world. Their kryptonite?…indecisiveness. I witness it every time one tries to cross in front of my car. 🙂
World domination, definitely, although they need to work out those car suicide tendencies before much dominating’s going to happen!
Conspirators! You can’t trust a squirrel.
Cute! Reminds me of my mom teaching us the Gray Squirrel song when she was my preschool teacher. 🙂
Cute!
They’re cute…but yet wiley. I used to feed the ones on my college campus, and after awhile they got to know me and would run up to me, crawl up my leg (leaving little muddy pawprints on my pants), and help themselves to the peanuts in my pockets.
I think they’re evil. A neighbor had a rogue squirrel in her attic that was silent…until she tried to sleep, then it would chitter and run around and destroy things. It was practicing sleep deprivation torture. Bad squirrels!
How funny, I just wrote on a questionnaire at work that my favorite food is(was) Cereal! Gosh I miss it! Also, squirrels are NOT cute! Especially when they chase you!
I definitely think they’re plotting to take over. I saw one up close once and its teeth were terrifying.
I have an ongoing feud with the local squirrels. They throw walnut shells all over and generally wreak havoc.
Squirrels sit in trees above my RV and throw nut shells on the solar panels on my roof; does that sound cute to you?
*Something* has been taking one or two nibbles out of each and every zucchini in my garden. I don’t want to point any fingers, but it’s definitely the squirrels. Don’t they know I’m trying to make zoodles with Sunshine Sauce?!
The only good squirrel is a dead squirrel.
They’re cute, smart AND wily conspirators. The ones at my house have not met a bird feeder they can’t break into and I’ve tried them all. Gotta love my fellow nut lovers!
Not cute! Mischievous little guys.
We raised a baby squirrel once. Named him Earl, he was precious until his soft little baby teeth hardened up. Then everything he grabbed with his big squirrel hands went right into his mouth, and ouch. Had to feed him with chopsticks once he was weaned. Plus sometimes he would just jump onto your head and dig his sharp, little squirrel nails into your scalp. But as a baby, he was sweet and adorable – so much to love about a baby squirrel.
Cute and resourceful! Very adaptable also! Have you ever watched a squirrel work a picnic area?? Pretty sophisticated operation!
We eat squirrel where I’m from. Not a shock to lean that I don’t find them cute at all. Tasty, yes. Cute, no.
Stare straight into their eyes and you’ll know they’re evil.
I think they’re cute, but only because my 13 yr. old niece is obsessed with them. She loves them and I love her, so I guess I gotta love the squirrel!
Squirrels actually terrify me. I think they are one of my biggest fears. They always stop and stare at you and I feel like they are going to run at me. Eeek!
I have been telling people for years that squirrels are secretly plotting against humans! And there are always a few news stories about squirrels attacking people. SO not cute!
Squirrels are the suburban rat! They are everywhere and totally creepy!
Entirely dependent on the squirrel. But overall, I think they are pretty cute.
Well, I would feel sad if I ran over one, but wouldn’t hesitate to do whatever it took to get rid of them if they started nesting in my garage or attic. 😉
I’ve been making my own paleo granola but would love to try something else! this looks delicious 🙂
I luv squirrels, but they are devious little creatures. I’ve never suffered at their hands so I still think they’re cute (though not cuddly), and fun to have an argument with.
That Nutcase Crunch looks sooo good.
Cute…. but… I’m a little tired of finding acorns in every one of my outdoor potted plants when I repot them. I KNOW they been snackin on my harvest.
Cute! And elusive. My friend raised a hurt baby for a few months. Eventually it heard the call of the wild and left, never to return.
You are not alone. Cereal is the _ONLY_ food I miss. Sadly, I can’t eat almonds or coconut meat, so I shall remain cereal-less. 🙁
Cute from far, but Far from cute!!!
I’m still undecided about squirrels… The ones on my college campus definitely don’t act normal, so that always throws me off!
Cute at a distance, terrifying up close.
I used to think they were cute, and back in Chicago (now in East Texas) we used to feed them by hand from our front step.
One day we were watching television and heard a funny tapping/scratching on the storm door…. THE SQUIRRELS WANTED TO BE FED! Needless to say, that was the last time I fed the squirrels on purpose.
When my father was a kid in Milwaukee a squirrel attacked him and bit him on the forehead. I’ve always stayed far away from them!
Funny you should mention this…last time I cheated it was with a giant bowl of mini-WHEATS and Vit D milk
And I definitely think squirrels are plotting something, especially their desire to cover my house in old rotten fruit and veggies. UGH!
I’ve been trying to get a pet squirrel for years! Adorable.
ew i hate squirrels! especially when my dog thinks she can actually catch one and almost pull my arm off
Squirrels are cute but I don’t trust them. I assume they’re mostly up to no good! Can’t wait to try this, you are not alone in your cereal cravings.
I do miss cereal…. It made such an emotionally satisfying dinner in my pre-Paleo life.
Squirrels rock! Especially the super cute feeding station at Knoebels!
Evil, that’s what they are. They’ve infested the neighborhood, eat anything edible they can get from the garden, and taunt the dogs. You see them dancing just out of reach, saying “ha, ha, bet you can’t get me!”
I used to think they were cute prior to living in Philly. City squirrels got balls. They knocked over my bike (spilling my coffee) and one even smacked my boyfriend in the face (granted it was swinging from a less than stable branch, but who gets hit in the face with a squirrel???). Gross, I hate them. And birds. Thank you Philly for ruining wildlife for me.
Squirrels make me smile.
Rats with cute tails AND they steal peaches off of my tree. How am I supposed to make this delicious dessert if they steal all of my peaches!!
Squirrels are like that pretty-boy womaniser you had a crush on once in college… They come across all cute and innocent, but are actually demanding little pricks when your defenses are down.
Seriously, I saw a woman giving bits of her trail mix out of a bag to a squirrel sitting on the her knee. She looked at me with this “Wow! isn’t this cool?!” expression and just then the squirrel head-butted the offering hand out of the way and dove into the bag to claim the bits *he* wanted. Furry bastard.
Definitely evil. My parents went on vacation and when I checked up on their house, one had managed to sneak in. I chased it around the house, and eventually trapped it in a single room, where it somehow managed to disappear like an evil little ninja. Had to leave out rat poison to prevent it from causing serious property damage.
Cute. But then again so were the Gremlins at first! I’d offer a snack to the first picture you have posted but run for the hills from the second little beast.
Like so many of us, both adorable and evil. Cute but naughty. What can I say? I can tell you that we may think we live places or own things, but our animal friends think differently about that. I once lived in a brownstone apartment where the building had LOTS of squirrels living in the walls and the attic, and one day one of the little cuties just hopped into my open kitchen window and came skittering into the house to see what I was up to…EEEKKK!!!
They are definitely up to no good!
When rubbing their bodies on the same little spot on the tree outside the kitchen window? Cute. When digging up all the potted plants on the porch and chewing up the one meyer lemon the tree gave us this year? Evil. Depends on the day.
I love squirrels….they are delicious!
heeeheeeheeee
I think they are just fluffy rats!
Squirrels look all innocent but beneath the veneer, they’re wily conspiratorial things plotting to take over the world.
I’m just starting to “go paleo” (having a Deconstructed Gyro Salad as we speak!) and granola has been the only grain I’ve been eating the last few weeks. I would LOVE some inspiration to get the crunch without the grain!
I don’t trust anything small and fast.
Mini-bears!!!
A squirrel ran out in front of my car the other and I am happy I missed hitting him. Mostly they are annoying. They dig up my spring bulbs and eat them.
They are totally both… The reason they get away with their craftiness is their adorable little faces!
I think they are a riot! One comes and sits on an oak branch next to my sunroom every morning and watches the news. He must think we humans are idiots.
Squirrels are my least favorite animal… They have an obvious evil nature…
ohhh. wiley for sure. Especially if you live in an urban area. Fearless.
If they are trying to take over the world, they are doing it by driving dogs crazy and on turn their owners…. At least that’s what happens in my backyard.
Not a fan of squirrels but lucky i have 4 hawks that inhabit my backyard and keep them away.
No doubt about it: there’s a squirrel conspiracy.
Definitely. Not. Cute.
They are certainly industrious little critters! We have several pecan trees on our property and in the fall when the pecans are in season, the squirrels collect and and “plant” the nuts. Some of the nuts actually sprout so each year we have more pecan trees! Mmm… Pecans… 🙂
So from that perspective, I like the squirrels. But then they have to pull the “lets run across the road at the very last second” stunt, which has given me several grey hairs while driving.
cute but with a devilish look in their eyes, definitely up to something!
I definitely think they are cute but as with all rodents, have a “Pinky and the Brain” complex – always trying to take over the world!
While I admit squirrels might be cute, I am not a fan – they do too much damage in our yard.
Creepy little devil-varmints at close range-cute & cuddly at 500 feet:)
Squirrel are conniving little varmits. Always up to no good!
We thought that we were putting the bird seed out for the birds, but the squirrels knew it was for them. They are the best gymnasts!
Love squirrels. Squirrels + bird feeder = very entertaining
After 7 years of living a block away from a walnut tree in a neighborhood full of squirrels, I’ve come to think of them as nut farmers. Every summer time, I get at least 3 little walnut trees trying to grow amongst my cone flowers and salvia.
I would love to win this! I agree with you that squirrels are evil. They are rats with bigger tails, in my opinion!
Sometimes they’re cute, but they are most certainly conspirators. They are hard workers tho, and determined…like the time they chewed through my grandmothers house and terrorized her for over a year. They chewed through wood, so we put up wire mesh, they chewed through that. I guess they really liked her house. The highlight of that incident was when they worked their way into her closet, she unknowingly opens the door and the squirrel peed all over the top shelf. Good times.
Cute conspirators. I have a soft spot for them, we lived out in the country growing up and helped rehab a couple of squirrel babies when their mom got hit by a car…they fell out of a tree a few days later and we just started bottle feeding them kitten formula. They lived in the house for about 6 months, then we moved them to an outdoor pen that they basically would come in and out of until they finally were ready to go out on their own.
When the neighborhood cats keep the squirrel population in check, squirrels delight me. Funny, cheeky, perky, quick. It’s hard to be grumpy when watching squirrels in our backyard and the 1835 cemetery just beyond.
I’m in So Cal and there is a small (very small) upside of squirrels. They randomly plant seeds in my yard so I wind up with some very interesting sunflowers that pop up in the strangest places. But mostly I could do without squirrels. Not sure they are conspiring to take over the world but I do think they conspire for local dominance over my garden. I see them running around behind the fence do their recon and looking for that perfect opportunity to conquer all that is in their reach. So good or evil? I’m voting on the side of evil.
Cute and funny and awesome playmates for our dogs. Keeps them active!
I had one that jumped onto the table I was eating at, knocked over my cup of french fries, and started nibbling away at them right in front of me. Evil. Pure Evil.
Nasty Creatures. I left my yoga mat in the garage for a few days & the little buggers hid a bunch of birdseed inside it! The birdseed that they stole from the poor sweet bird feeders that they destroyed with their sharp teeth!! blah.
Cute but I think they are planning to take over. I have several in my yard who study my reactions when they steal my tomatoes or raspberries.
I think squirrels are rats with puffy tails. They’re a blight. Well, you asked!
I am in upstate NY and I agree with the other posters, just rats with fluffier tails
In San Diego they stay away from the houses due to all the dogs and cats in the area, but on trails I see them scurrying, I think they’re pretty cute ^^ They have spots out here!
I think they are pests! We can’t keep the little hogs out of our bird feeders!
Squirrels are even more diabolical than Gargamel and Voldemort combined. … Yes, *that bad*
Adorable! I love squirrels and have been known to cry (wail, blubber, boogers running down my chin kind of crying) when I hit one with my car. Their little front paws remind me of our own hands. I watched one out my living room window eating an almond I’d left for him on a rock in my garden. He munched a bit, then took it to the grass and sort of moved the grass aside with his little hand/paws, placed the leftover nut there and smoothed the grass back over it. Oh my gosh – how freakin’ sweet is that?
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I wondered if you’d seen this article? it sure makes me angry. I didn’t know where else to post it so hopefully you find it here. thank you for all the great blogs and photos and information. Nicole Osepian
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I’m with you in thinking that they are really in a vast conspiracy to take over the world. I don’t know about Austin but in NYC they are working with the rats in the plan to take over!
We had squirrels in our attic for months. The sound of scratching on the ceiling was unnerving, especially early in the mornings. This family of rodents ended up chewing through our ceiling — there were clusters of little holes and falling bits of sheet rock everywhere. Crazy. It took weeks and weeks to get rid of them. (Had to hire a professional). Every now and then I think I hear something up there and I cringe. Definitely not as cute as they seem.
Cute from afar, but the only one that has ever brought me any real indicators that squirrels are secretly voodoo priests is the albino squirrel on the UT campus. I saw it one day, and I aced all five of my finals. All thanks to the albino squirrel. Truth.
I think squirrels are mostly cute… As long as they stay by their tree and not take one step towards me.
Cute, unless they eat from my fruit trees, then they look evil and even a bit tasty!
on the creepy side for me… though I’ve heard they are tasty!
Squirrels eat a lot of nuts – they can’t be all bad,
We live in a city; I know that they are plotting to take over the world. For example, there is an old, battered grey squirrel who regularly comes on to our elevated deck to snack on my large pot of mediterranean herbs (several types of basil, parsley, oregano and thyme). I swear this squirrel thumbs his nose at me every time I see him; caught him munching yesterday when I went to water. My husband (who was raised in the country) wants to kill it for “squirrel caccatore,” but I think he would be stringy and greasy, plus this would just give them a squirrel martyr.
Yeah, squirrels are sneaky. Don’t trust ’em, never have…never will.
Am I going crazy or was the nutcase recipe on here last night and then was removed? I planned on making this today and am losing my mind?
Uh-oh. You might be losing your mind. It’s still on this page… 🙂
Well, losing it is always a possibility but I see the Crisp recipe but I thought you had posted the actual Nutcase Crunch recipe. When I click on the link, I just go to the site where you sell the product. Trust me, I think you should make LOTS of money for the great work you do, I’m mainly trying to figure out if the nutcase recipe was here and then wasn’t.
You wrote: “I think you should make LOTS of money for the great work you do.”
I don’t really understand what this means. I don’t have any stake in Nutcase Crunch. I just posted the review plus the link to their site in case you want to buy some. I don’t make any money from Nutcase Crunch.
As for the recipe, no, I didn’t share the Nutcase Crunch recipe. It’s a proprietary recipe owned by the nice people at Nutcase Crunch.
I did list the ingredients above: almonds, pecans, unsweetened coconut, and pine nuts.
AAAhhh. I thought you were behind Nutcase Crunch. Sorry to be so confused. I thought for certain I saw a recipe for it and then it was gone. I thought maybe and perhaps coincidentally the very day that I went to make it was the day you released the packaged product. No harm meant, I was just trying to solve the mystery in my head.
Thanks for clarifying.