Unexpected Berry Crumble.

This is one of my favorite things to make when I have a craving for fancy dessert but it's too late to bake a cake. I had no plans of making this tonight but after a rather spicy stir fry I felt like having a sweet fruit dessert. It's super easy to make, and very easy to change from time to time. And also you can make it in individual baking ramekins so that way there's no temptation for seconds and you're not "stuck" to eat it for days afterwards...



The crumble mixture also is the easiest thing, it doesn't even have to be THAT precise, use more butter if you want a soft crust or more oats for a cruchier one. And it can stay in the fridge for a few days if you don't use it all. It can even make a good base for date squares. I don't remember where I got the recipe though. I think it was from a Food Network show, may have been Anna Olson's or Ina Garten's, I don't know... I scribbled it down on a piece of paper and kept it in one of the many baking books I own:

1 cup flour(i used whole wheat pastry flour)
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 stick unsalted butter(about 8 tablespoons), cut into cubes
pinch salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Mix everything together with a fork or a pastry cutter until it ressembles coarse crumbs:



For the fruit underneath the possibilities are endless. Whatever you got is fine. For this one I used a mix of berries, frozen because it's not berry season yet. The only thing to remember here is to give the fruit a little boost! A little sugar, cinnamon, squeeze of lemon juice and a bit of flour to thicken the juice given by the fruit. If you like the crumble really juicy use veeeeery little flour or none at all(I omit the flour when cooking with apples, but frozen fruit always give out more liquid...) This is why I love making these: no need to measure!!

Bake it at 375F for about 25-30 minutes, until it becomes bubbly. Then what I do is turn on the broiler and let it brown a bit and crisp up...but if you do this don't walk away from the oven!!



Enjoy!!