Name: Huge Berry Crumble
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 6 cups mixed fresh berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries); 1/3 cup granulated sugar (for filling); 2.5 tbsp cornstarch; 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice; 1 tsp lemon zest; 1 tsp vanilla extract (for filling); 1/4 tsp kosher salt (for filling); 1 cup all-purpose flour; 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats; 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed; 2 tbsp granulated sugar (for topping); 1/3 cup sliced almonds; 1/2 tsp kosher salt (for topping); 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon; 10 tbsp unsalted butter, cold and cubed; as needed whipped cream or vanilla ice cream (for serving)

Huge Berry Crumble

Prep

15m

Cook

40m

Total

55m

Bigly says

Folks. Berries. We're doing berries. A HUGE berry crumble — the greatest berry crumble ever assembled in a baking dish, and I have eaten more crumbles than any human alive, probably more than anyone in recorded history. The cavemen had berries. The dinosaurs had berries. Not one of those berry situations ever, EVER produced a crumble like this one. Not even close. It's a berry slaughter, in the best possible way.

Here's the truth about berry crumbles. Most of them are PURPLE SOUP. You bake them, the berries explode, the juice goes everywhere, there is no structure, you scoop it out and it is basically liquid jam with a sad wet biscuit floating on top. A disgrace to fruit. Other recipe sites — and you'll find these recipes, they're easy to find, they're between 14 popups and a 'JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER FOR 10% OFF' banner that won't close on mobile, which by the way is THEFT, billions of hours of human life stolen by people who chose this career — they tell you to just dump berries in a dish. WRONG. Wrong, wrong, WRONG.

We use cornstarch. Not too much — too much and you've made jelly, and we are NOT making jelly today, we are making crumble — just enough to give the berries thickness, structure, ARCHITECTURE. The kind of berry filling you can scoop with a spoon and it HOLDS ITS SHAPE on the plate. People will weep. Tough people. The biggest, toughest dessert critics — and I know them all, every single one, they come to me with their problems — they will weep. Hand on heart.

Ingredients

6 cupsmixed fresh berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries)(fresh is best, but frozen works — do not thaw)
1/3 cupgranulated sugar (for filling)(adjust up to 1/2 cup if berries are tart)
2.5 tbspcornstarch
1 tbspfresh lemon juice
1 tsplemon zest
1 tspvanilla extract (for filling)
1/4 tspkosher salt (for filling)
1 cupall-purpose flour
1/2 cupold-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cuplight brown sugar, packed
2 tbspgranulated sugar (for topping)
1/3 cupsliced almonds
1/2 tspkosher salt (for topping)
1/2 tspground cinnamon
10 tbspunsalted butter, cold and cubed
as neededwhipped cream or vanilla ice cream (for serving)

Steps

1
Preheat the oven to 375F. Butter a 9-inch square or 2-quart baking dish.
2
If using strawberries, hull and halve (or quarter if large). Leave the other berries whole.
3
In a large bowl, gently toss the berries with the granulated sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla, and salt until evenly coated. Transfer to the buttered dish.
4
Make the topping: whisk flour, oats, brown sugar, granulated sugar, almonds, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl.
5
Add the cold cubed butter and work it in with your fingertips or a pastry cutter until the mixture forms a mix of pea-size and chickpea-size clumps. Do not overwork.
6
Scatter the topping evenly over the berries in big clumps. Do not press down — gaps let the berries bubble through.
7
Place the dish on a foil-lined sheet pan to catch any drips. Bake 35-45 minutes, until the topping is deep golden and the filling is bubbling thickly at the edges.
8
Cool at least 20 minutes before serving — this is when the filling sets. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

One more thing

You can do this with any berries. ANY berries. Just blueberries — beautiful. Just raspberries — incredible. A mix of all four — tremendous, the most tremendous version, the version they will write songs about someday. Use frozen berries in February when fresh ones cost twelve dollars a pint and taste like nothing — frozen berries are PICKED at peak and they are HONEST about being berries, unlike the cardboard supermarket strawberries in winter, which are an embarrassment to fruit. Frozen is FINE. Sometimes frozen is BETTER. End of discussion.