Strawberry Crisp

In my epic strawberry consumption efforts this week, I was debating between recipes for a buckle, a cobbler, and a crisp. While the crisp won out primarily on the criteria that I didn’t want to go to the store again (the other options required milk), I’m really glad this happened.

I like the crumbly messiness of the crisp, even if it means getting a graceful photo is nigh impossible. But the whole point (in my mind) is that you dump a bunch of berries in pan, dump a bunch of topping on ’em, and throw it in the oven. Super-easy and super-tasty.

Plus, it’s fun to make ’cause you mush all the ingredients together with your hands. So I guess I like it ’cause it brings out my inner 12 year old, gleefully playing with her food.

Again, I just guesstimated on amount of strawberries, but I think that’s the beautiful thing about crisps. They don’t really rely on exact measurements in the same way that most baking endeavors do. I think I sliced up like four cups of berries. Then dumped the topping on top. And it was a totally decent ratio.

Strawberry Crisp (adapted from Joy the Baker)

Grade: A

• 4 cups-ish fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)
• 1/2-3/4 cup shredded coconut (optional – I just had some around and figured it couldn’t hurt)

Preheat to 350 degrees.

Place sliced strawberries 8×8-inch baking dish or (as I did) in a casserole dish that’s somewhere around that size and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, oats, spices, and salt. Add the butter and smoosh the mixture together with your hands (after washing them, of course!). Break the butter up into the flour mixture until the butter is the size of small pebbles and oat flakes. This takes about 4 minutes. Toss in the walnuts and coconut (if using).

Toss a generous handful (about 1 cup) of crumble topping into the strawberry mixture. Stir it around with a spatula or really go to town and use your hands. Spread the fruit evenly in the pan and top with the remaining crumble mixture.

Bake until fruit is juicy and bubbling, and the top of the crumble is slightly browned and crisp, about 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven, let cool slightly, and serve with vanilla ice cream. Crumble is delicious served warm and can be stored, covered, in the fridge and reheated in the oven or microwave for serving.