I
bought a very full pint of blueberries at the farmer’s market on the weekend and
decided to make a ‘crisp’ with the fruit. Fruit crisps are easy to make, very
forgiving and in that sense, quite friendly desserts. Generally, when I make this type of
thing I just throw some ingredients together. Yesterday, I took the time to
measure, so that the recipe could be replicated. Although I baked this ‘crisp’
in a small cast iron skillet, I would not recommend it, simply because the
blueberries are so dark when cooked that the finished product has a very
black-on-black look. Better to use a white enamel baking dish I think.
As a rule of thumb, when considering flavouring fruit crisps: cinnamon works well with anything apple-ish, ginger works well with peaches and pears, and in my experience, lemon is the best flavour enhancer for blueberries.
Ingredients for the fruit base:
As a rule of thumb, when considering flavouring fruit crisps: cinnamon works well with anything apple-ish, ginger works well with peaches and pears, and in my experience, lemon is the best flavour enhancer for blueberries.
Ingredients for the fruit base:
- 1 pint of fresh blueberries (in this case, my pint of
berries turned out to be a good 2 and ¼ cups)
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1 tablespoon of flour
- finely grated zest of one
lemon
Ingredients for the crispy topping:
Ingredients for the crispy topping:
- 1 cup of oatmeal
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup melted butter
- Pinch of salt
You'll need a bit of extra butter for coating the baking dish.
Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. Rub the surface of a smallish oven-proof baking dish with butter. In a medium-sized bowl combine all four ingredients for the fruit base and then transfer the fruit mixture to the buttered baking dish. Re-use the same mixing bowl to combine the five ingredients for the crispy topping. Then spread the topping evenly over the fruit base. Bake for an hour, or until the fruit is juicy and bubbling along the rim of the baking dish.
Editorial Notes:
Frozen fruit work well in 'crisps' too.
Gauging the size of the baking dish when making fruit desserts is a bit of a balancing act….you don’t want your dessert to look lost in the bottom of a large container. On the other hand, using something too small will cause you the grief of a dirty oven, as sticky, sugary fruit boils over and burns.
At serving time, vanilla ice cream makes a wonderful addition to warm 'crisps', as does yogurt, (particularly Greek or Balkan style).
You'll need a bit of extra butter for coating the baking dish.
Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. Rub the surface of a smallish oven-proof baking dish with butter. In a medium-sized bowl combine all four ingredients for the fruit base and then transfer the fruit mixture to the buttered baking dish. Re-use the same mixing bowl to combine the five ingredients for the crispy topping. Then spread the topping evenly over the fruit base. Bake for an hour, or until the fruit is juicy and bubbling along the rim of the baking dish.
Editorial Notes:
Frozen fruit work well in 'crisps' too.
Gauging the size of the baking dish when making fruit desserts is a bit of a balancing act….you don’t want your dessert to look lost in the bottom of a large container. On the other hand, using something too small will cause you the grief of a dirty oven, as sticky, sugary fruit boils over and burns.
At serving time, vanilla ice cream makes a wonderful addition to warm 'crisps', as does yogurt, (particularly Greek or Balkan style).
2 comments:
The last paragraph is reminding me of my month-long yogurt/prune/honey festival 2 years ago ... mmmMMMM good!
There are not many prune aficionados like you Christine.
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