The Berry Crisple

Happy Wednesday, everyone! I was so excited to make vegan burgers tonight, but then decided to channel that energy into making a crumble... crisp?... crisple!..., instead, because well... I'm not sure. But after all, with the minus-gabillion temperatures of these past few days, who doesn't need a belly full of warm-berry-cinnamony-nutmegy-oatmeal-goodness :)


The nutritional impact of this recipe is fantastic - a whole ton of antioxidants, vitamin C and fibre from the fruit, and the oats and flax, should you want to add it in (why not, I say!) gets even more fibre going, plus B-vitamins, magnesium, and more. Be careful with your sweeteners... try to stick with low glycemic index sweeteners and minimise the use of white or even brown sugar. The lemon juice is a great alkaliser for all that acidic fruit and sugar.

So many delicious berries!

And therefore, with a wee bit of chopping, tossing and Downton-Abbey-watching... behold, the Berry Crisple! I am sorry to say that I do not have specific measurements for most of this one. If I ever do decide to come out with a recipe book, I'm in trouble, because I definitely subscribe to the keep-tasting/smelling-while-cooking-and-just-add-more-xyz-'til-it-hits-the-spot methodology.


Berry Crisple:

- Approx. 1 pint chopped strawberries
- Approx. 1 pint blackberries
- Approx. 1 pint blueberries
- Approx. 1/2 pint raspberries
- Fresh juice of 1/2 lemon
- Sucanat, brown sugar, honey or agave nectar to taste (I used mostly sucanat tonight)
- 4 or 5ish cups of large flake oats (not instant!)
- Approx. 1-->1.5 cups melted butter or applesauce (I used vegan Becel)
- Approx. 1--> 1.5 cups flour (I used brown rice flour - can use any kind. I have also seen recipes without flour)
- Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- optional: ground flax seeds, chopped walnuts or almonds


- Preheat oven to 350 C.
- Toss berries with desired amount of sugar/sucanat/etc and lemon juice in large mixing bowl.

- In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and optional ground flax seeds.
- Stir in melted butter until mixture is fully coated.

- Coat bottom of pan (I used a 9x13 glass baking dish) with approx half of oat mixture. Spread berry mixture over this, and top with remainder of oat mixture. Optional: sprinkle chopped nuts on top.
- Bake for about 40 minutes - fruit should be bubbling, and top turning golden brown.


Enjoy warm and fresh, or cold and leftover, by itself or with icecream, whipped cream (vegan option: whipped coconut-milk based cream!).

... or enjoy it straight from the pan ;)

And the great thing about this recipe is you can use any fruit you want - peach and blackberry, apples, mango in the summer... endless options!


Stay warm and well,


N.