Rustico Blueberry Cran Crumble

I looooove blueberries. I can gobble them up by the handfuls in their delectable goodness and adore the way they sorta pop in your mouth when you bite down. The best ones are sweet with a hint of tang and I and DH feast on them whenever we can.

Sadly, they are practically like gold in Israel, or maybe platinum. Very hard to find and expensive. So, for my blueberry fix, I turn to frozen blueberries which whilst I cannot snorf down with impunity like fresh, I can, however, bake them into morsels of yumminess in various and sundry forms.

I found in my freezer case, right before Passover a gorgeous bag of frozen blueberries and cranberries, a combo not previously seen by me and I was so excited by this since I knew it would have a lovely sweet-tart tang, that I bought two and decided to make a crisp or crumble with them for the holiday.

Well, Passover came and went and with the baking and cooking frenzy, I just plumb never got around to doing anything with them. So, I The decided to make a crumble with them after Passover, using flour, yippee. (I will eventually try a gluten free version, never fear).

I debated using white or brown sugar in the topping and flour or cornstarch in the berry mixture. So, since my son Netanel had a bunch of his pals around, I figured I’d use them (and DH of course) as my guinea pigs to see what everyone preferred.

The long and short of it is that I made two separate crumbles (I say crumble since the topping is sort of like streusel) one with brown sugar and cornstarch and one with white sugar and flour.

Mix together the flour, oats, sugar and spices till fully combined. Add the oil and mix with a spoon or your hands (I put on my latex gloves for this to get a better handle on the crumble since you want big chunky bits) and crumble together. Set aside.

Mix the cornstarch with the frozen berries – since if you let them defrost they get this loose and goopy texture – and the sugar till it looks like this

and you can do this right in the pie pan (I used a glass one for prettiness) after spraying the pan with oil spray. And then, add the crumble topping on top of the berries. Using your fingers, create big chunky bits of topping. Cover all the berries.

Bake in a 375 oven for 35-40 minutes till a nice medium brown. Let this cool somewhat before digging in so that the berries thicken up enough to cut the crumble.

In the end, the boys were almost delirious with joy over the two crumbles (hey, who said being a guinea pig was a bad thing?). And, interestingly, they volunteered their opinions on the two desserts. Since (as Netanel’s best buds) they know I write a food blog, they always encourage me to try things out on them, and they are more conscious of the way things taste and try to give me input.

Hands down, they voted for the white sugar crumble (so did I and DH, as it happens) and they struggled to express why. It’s really simple, white sugar will always bake up crunchier than brown. Brown sugar has molasses in it and will produce a softer topping. We all preferred the crunchiness of the white sugar.

Next, the flour did not fully absorb the liquidy juices of the blueberries and cranberries and didn’t produce the proper thickening or jam like consistency you want.

Last but not least, I decided to eschew margarine for this recipe in an attempt to be a bit healthier, and it was surprisingly successful and the crumb topping had a nice crunch and sat properly atop the berries without sinking into them.

I was very happy with the results but 🙂 I think the boys were happier.

Rustico Blueberry Cran Crumble

For the crumble topping:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup quick oats
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup oil

For the berry filling:
2-3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 package mixed frozen blueberry and cranberry bodek 454 grams or 16 ounces, this measured approximately 3 and 1/2 cups- DO NOT DEFROST
6 tablespoons sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

For the crumble topping mix all the dry ingredients together till fully combined and add the oil all at once. You can use a spoon but preferably use your hands (I use latex gloves for this) and toss together till you get big bits of crumbs (see pic above) and set aside.

Right in the pie pan, which you spray first with oil spray, toss the berries with the cornstarch, checking to see if you need more than the 2 tablespoons, you will see if you need 3 by how the berries get a bit dry and then continue to toss with the sugar. Pat evenly in the pan and using your hands, place the crumble topping evenly over all the berries to cover.

Put the crumble into the hot oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until crumble topping is medium brown. Let cool a bit till the berries reabsorb their liquid and you will be able to use a knife to cut this or if you have no patience, use a spoon while still kinda hot since the juices will run a bit. This is hearty and rustic and just plain delish.