Fruit crumbles have long been a favourite in our house. Easier than pie to make, they are a great way to use up leftover fruit and the combinations are endless! In this one, I paired up blueberries with apples, but feel free to change things up to use your favourite fruits. Peaches and raspberries, blackberries and pears, or even just apples on their own make a wonderful fruit crumble. Top the warm fruit with a bit of vanilla ice cream and you have a dessert that just can't be beat. Kids can help you make this by peeling or slicing the fruit, or even making the crumble topping. Fruit crumbles make a wonderful lunchbox addition and even a guilt free breakfast if you skip the ice cream-after all, it's mostly fruit and oatmeal, right?
Ingredients:
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (the 1/4 cup is to add to the apples—you can change this as much as you want, depending on how sweet the fruit is)
1/2 cup butter, cold, cut into small cubes
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats (not the quick cooking ones)
6 medium sized apples apples peeled, cored, and sliced (Empire or Gala apples are good ones)
4 cups frozen blueberries
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp orange zest (optional)
Pre-heat oven to 375 F
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, and 2 tbsp of the granulated sugar. Cut the butter into this mixture using a pastry cutter until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add the oatmeal and then work it together. Use your hands even-get right in there, squeezing the oatmeal and working it right into the flour/butter mixture. You want there to be clumps! Put it in the fridge to keep it cold while you get the apples ready. This is an important step, so don’t skip it. You do this so that the oatmeal will bake up in nice clumps on top of your fruit.
Peel, core, and slice up the apples. Sprinkle with lemon juice to prevent browning and toss with the blueberries, cinnamon, flour, and as much sugar as you would like (up to 1/4 cup). Pour apples and berries into a shallow 2 quart baking dish and sprinkle topping over top. The filling will be mounded into the dish and may seem like too much, but it cooks down so don’t be worried unless you really can’t fit it all in, and in that case, use a larger dish. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit and bake about an hour, or until it’s bubbly and the apples are fork tender. Remove from the oven and let cool on the stove.
Serve warm with scoops of ice cream
Serves 6
Adapted from Every Day Food
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