Pre-prep

1.     Butter: Cut up the butter into small pieces on a plate and set aside. Doing this will help it come to room temperature more quickly. We will come back to this later.  

2.     Berries: Take your baking dish (lasagna size, 13” X 9”) and place your frozen berries in it. You can buy frozen mixed berries at just about any grocery store. If you are sensitive to tartness, sprinkle a spoon or two of sugar on top of the berries.  

3.     Cut a lemon in half and squeeze the fresh lemon juice on top of the berries. Lemon helps bring out the natural flavors of the berries.  

4.     Mix all the berries together and lay them flat in the dish.

Crumbling  

5.     Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Mix the flour and sugar together. Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to give it that warming feeling.

6.     The butter: The temperature of your butter is so essential before incorporating it into your sugar mixture. If it’s too soft your crumble topping will look like smooshie playdough, too hard and it will never incorporate into the sugar. It has to be just right. When your finger can push in the soft butter with just a little bit of pressure, then it’s just right (the third butter). If it’s too warm, just pop it in the frig for 5 minutes until it hardens up a bit.  

7.     Put the butter in the sugar/flour mixture.  

8.     Take the hand mixer and mix on medium until all of the butter is incorporated into the sugar/flour mixture. It might take a good 3-5 minutes of mixing until it turns into a “fluffy wet sand.” If after 5 minutes the butter is still not incorporated, then leave it in the sun or by a heat source for a few minutes until it softens up a bit.  

9. Once your berries are half defrosted, it’s time to get crumbling! Take half of the crumble mixture and spread it evenly on the berries. Don’t forget the corners! It’s good to cover all the berries with the crumble to prevent them from drying out during baking.  

10. After, take a fist full of the crumble mixture and squeeze it in your hand, letting the crumble chunks fall out in pieces from your hands onto the berries. Repeat this until it’s all used up.  

11. Sprinkle the top of the crumble with cinnamon and put it in the oven.  

12. All ovens are different but it will take about 20-30 minutes to cook. You will know when this French delight is ready when the top is just slightly golden and the sides are slightly bubbling. If the crumble top is cooking too fast, just cover it with parchment paper and reduce the temperature a bit.  

13. When the crumble is all finished, take it out and let it cool for at least 20 minutes (if you can stand to wait!) Serve it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream (even in winter) and Oh la la!  

14. We leave the crumble out on the counter and IF there are left overs we put it in the fridge for the night. Then, the next morning we simply get it back out and leave it on the counter again for nibbling throughout the day.

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