Triple Berry Crisp Recipe
This triple berry crisp recipe is fresh blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries baked under a buttery oatmeal streusel until the fruit bubbles around the edges. I serve it warm loaded with vanilla ice cream and caramel, it is my favorite way to close out a summer meal.
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh blueberries
- 2 cups fresh raspberries
- 2 cups fresh blackberries
- Juice of ½ lemon, about 1 ½ tablespoons
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1 recipe for caramel
- 1 recipe for ice cream
Instructions
- Toss the berries around in a bit of fresh-squeezed lemon juice and sugar to help sweeten them up a bit. The lemon will add a bit more sourness to them.
- Place the berries in a 13”x9” casserole dish, 10” skillet, or 10” rondeau pot, and prepare the streusel.
- Using a pastry knife, cut in together the rolled oats, flour, brown sugar, and butter for the streusel. The butter should be the size of rice.
- Sprinkle it all over the top of the berries, completely covering them.
- Bake the berry crisp in the oven at 350° for 40 to 45 minutes or until the top is browned and firm.
- Serve warm with vanilla ice cream and caramel.
Notes
One of the biggest mistakes you can make with a berry crisp is taking it out of the oven too early. I know it's tempting because the topping starts looking golden, but that doesn't always mean it's ready. I always wait until the streusel is a nice golden brown and the berry filling is bubbling around the edges of the baking dish. The extra time in the oven is key, giving you a crisp topping and a thick syrupy filling instead of a watery dessert. Trust me, it's worth the wait.
Always cut the butter to the size of a grain of rice and stop. The streusel is supposed to be loose, dry, and shaggy when it goes onto the berries. Overworked streusel goes the way of cookie dough, bakes flat, and gives the dessert a single dense layer of topping instead of a crumble, and that's not what we want here.
Skip the strawberries: Strawberries collapse in the oven and release more water than the streusel can absorb. The crisp goes soupy under a sad pink topping. Blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries stay intact during baking; cherries (pitted and halved) are the only other berry I will use for this.
Frozen berries are fine, but do not thaw and drain too aggressively; a quick rinse to wake them up is enough. Berries shed too much water if they sit thawed on a paper towel, and the fruit layer goes thin and dry in the oven.
The fruit needs to bubble around the edges, not just look hot: Bubbling means the juice has hit the boiling point and the sugar is binding it into a soft syrup. If only the top is shiny and the edges are still, I give it another 5 minutes.
Make-Ahead: For freshness, you can make this up to 2 days ahead of time.
How to Store: The best way to store the berry crisp is to cover it in plastic and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. It can also be stored in a plastic container in the freezer for up to 2 months. The caramel holds in the refrigerator for up to 1 month, and the ice cream can hold in the freezer for up to 2 months.
How to Reheat: I scoop the leftover crisp into a small ovenproof dish, cover with a lid or foil, and warm at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes until hot through. The microwave is fine for a single serving when time is short, but the streusel goes chewy; the oven is worth the extra time.
Nutrition
Calories: 316kcalCarbohydrates: 71gProtein: 5gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 0.4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.01gCholesterol: 1mgSodium: 10mgPotassium: 259mgFiber: 7gSugar: 40gVitamin A: 113IUVitamin C: 19mgCalcium: 56mgIron: 2mg