Summer Berry Crisp

Ooh la la! Summer berries. Sweet, tart, juicy yummy and all around lovely.  For the totally exciting finale to our dinner party, I made a summer berry crisp.  I love crisps.  You get the fruit and the crunchy sweet carb topping, and you don't have to make pie crust. SO easy. And this recipe was particularly delicious, because it contains little more than the ripe berries of the season, and a very easy and tasty crisp topping.

Here are the ingredients.  You can use any combination of berries that you want, as long as it comes to about 6 cups.

Fruit filling:

• 2 cups blueberries (I used about 4 cups of blueberries cuz dey were da CHEAPEST)
• 2 cups blackberries (1 cup, these suckers are expensive)
• 2 cups raspberries (these too)
• 1/4 cup sugar (I cut back a little because the blueberries were pretty sweet and I had so many of them cuz dey were da CHEAPEST did I mention that)
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (I used tapioca--flour can sometimes make it a little gray/goopy for me, but that may be my baking "technique")
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional--I don't have the most sensitive palate, but this really didn't come through given all the berryness. I guess you could put it in the topping, though.)

Crisp topping:

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, for serving

Oh you luscious little orbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a 9-inch pie plate (I used a deep dish one, which ended up being a good idea because what the hell 6 cups is a lot of berries).  

Then I made the crisp topping.  Dump the topping ingredients except for the butter into a medium or large bowl and mix well.

Scatter the butter pieces over the oatmeal mixture.

Using a pastry blender or your hands, mix in butter until it resembles coarse meal. I have a pastry blender but hardly ever use it--I prefer to use my hands so that I really "feel" the ingredients and infuse my love into what I'm crafting. I'm kidding, I just don't want to wash the pastry blender.  If you are using your hands, try to be light and quick, you don't want the butter to melt (it's important to use cold butter).  

Meh, maybe it doesn't look like coarse meal, but close enough.

Refrigerate until ready to use.  In another bowl, combine the berries, sugar, tapioca and cinnamon.  Toss until combined.

Put buttered pie plate on a baking sheet (I also line the sheet with foil to help with mess--burnt sugar doesn't wash off too well).  Pour the berries into the pie plate.  Cover with crisp topping. Don't forget the edges, especially because that's where the juices like to escape.

Bake for about 50 minutes to 1 hour, rotating dish halfway through, until topping is golden brown and juices are bubbling.  Remove from oven to a cooling rack.  Let cool and serve warm, with ice cream, whipped cream, or nothing else at all.

Do you like how I stage my photos? Like, with the crumpled foil and everything?

Yeah, this is more a picture of the ice cream than the crisp, but I was rushing to eat with everyone else.

Ta-da!