Gluten-Free Berry Crisp

For me, there is nothing like a good, home-made fruit crisp. Served warm or cold; something about some sticky and slightly sweet pie filling- like fruit topped with a buttery and crunchy topping: Yes!! Please!

This summer, I was fortunate to score a couple of gallons of locally grown blueberries And blackberries. Knowing I wanted some for the fall/winter- I decided to freeze a bunch. To do this so the berries were frozen individually, I first covered a cookie sheet with wax paper, then spread out my washed and dried berries, making sure none were touching another, and froze the whole thing.  After that, I placed my frozen berries in freezer bags to store for later use. Easy and perfect, right?

For the past couple of months I’ve been searching and experimenting on how to make a delicious Fruit Crisp and how to make it Gluten Free. So, after many “experiments,”  ( which my husband LOVED! he’d randomly get a text from me stating that he “may want” to pick up vanilla ice cream on the way home from work, ) I found a combo that I really enjoy And it’s far healthier than just substituting flour for a GF flour, well, healthy in the sense of the Flaxseed ~ Not all the butter!  For this recipe I combined both blueberries and blackberries just to mix it up. The Blueberries I had I knew were deliciously sweet and the blackberries quite tart, so, I figured they’d balance each other out in flavor as well as in texture. I Love Lime with Blueberries, the lime zest adds a bit of brightness while the Nutmeg in the topping adds a sweeter pungency, rounding out the dessert.

Ingredients

Now, my biggest tip for making any type of homemade pastry or for this recipe, a Crisp topping, is to use frozen butter and hand grate with a cheese grater. Years ago, a family friend introduced me to this tip. By doing this you are keeping you butter Very cold while creating tiny pieces which are both better for mixing with your dry mixture. Though I realize this is not for everyone, for me, this technique is super helpful and I use it quite often.

Crisp Topping prior to baking

 Gluten-Free Berry Crisp

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Ingredients

• 4 Cups fresh or thawed frozen Blueberries
• 2 Cups fresh or thawed frozen Blackberries
• 2 TBS. Cornstarch
• 1 Cup Brown sugar + 3 TBS
• 1  2/3 stick Butter, frozen
• 1 Cup Gluten-Free Oats
• 2/3 Cup Almond meal/flour
• 1/3 Cup Flaxseed meal
• Zest of 2 Limes
• Juice of 1 Lime
• 1/4 tsp. Nutmeg

Liberally grease a 9 x 13 pan with butter. In a large bowl mix berries with lime juice. Separately, mix 3 TBS. Brown sugar, cornstarch, and lime zest: Add to berries and stir so berries are completely covered.

Grind your flaxseed meal in a food processor for a minute or two until your the flaxseed meal looks more like flour. In second large bowl, mix oats, Almond meal, flaxseed meal, 1 cup brown sugar, and nutmeg. Grate frozen butter and add to dry mix; cut in with a knife and fork or a pastry blender until it becomes a crumbly consistency.

Grated Butter & Dry Ingredients

Pour berry mixture into pan, top with crumble topping covering all of the berries.
Bake in oven 40-50 minutes.

Tips

The longer you bake the crisp, the crispier the topping becomes, similar to a granola consistency. It will brown quickly, so keep an eye on it and cover loosely with foil if getting too brown. If you want a “richer” topping, just add a Tablespoon or few extra of butter, or reversely; reduce amount of butter added to topping for less rich taste/texture. Enjoy!