I’m sure there’s some technical difference between a crisp and a crumble, but right now I don’t care. All I know is that I can’t stop making/eating this. It’s similar to the crumble recipe already on this blog, but uses a bit less fruit and somehow feels faster.
From America’s Test Kitchen, it begins by par-cooking the fruit in an oven-safe fry-pan and then baking it for only 20 minutes. This could turn out to be tricky if you don’t have a 10” oven-safe fry-pan. (I use my 10” Le Creuset braising pan.) A 12” pan tends to spread the fruit too thinly.
Options:
You can do step 1 in a stove-top pan and then transfer the fruit to a *7 x 10” baking dish (that does not need to be prepped in any way.) I read in online recipe comments that an 8 x 8 pan was too small.
Place foil at the bottom of the oven to make clean-up easier if things bubble up
You can also use all or part frozen fruit - just chop them into smaller chunks as soon as they thaw enough to permit this. It may also require the stove-top cooking time to be a wee bit longer.
I cut back a bit on the sugar.
I plan to keep a supply of the crumble in my fridge and make this whenever I have 6-7 cups of one or mixed fruits on hand. I’m also chopping and storing fruit in 2-3 cup quantities.
Getting Ready
chop the fruit - ideal if you can do part of this ahead of time - rhubarb, for example, could be done several days before
make and refrigerate the topping
when ready - preheat the oven to 375 F; set rack to middle position
¾ cup (3¾ ounces) all-purpose flour
½ cup panko bread crumbs
¼ cup packed (1¾ ounces) light brown sugar
½ tsp table salt
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
6 TB unsalted butter, melted
Topping: Whisk together the dry ingredients. Play with the flavour a bit if you want - for example try cardamom instead of cinnamon.
Stir in the melted butter and mix until no part of the mixture is dry. You may want to muck in there with your hands a bit.
This can be kept in the fridge until needed.
1 lb fresh rhubarb, trimmed and cut into ½-inch pieces (3 - 3.5 cups)
12 oz fresh strawberries, hulled and chopped coarse (2 cups)
1 - 1.25 cups packed (8¾ ounces) light brown sugar
2 TB cornstarch
1/8 tsp table salt
These are ATK’s recommended measures. I have used up to 7 cups of fruit - and/but did not change other ingredients.
Mix all of this thoroughly. Transfer it to a stove-top fry pan or skillet.
Cook on medium heat for about 8 minutes until the fruit starts to break down, releases liquid and begins to thicken a bit. DON’T STEP AWAY - and keep stirring. This mixture can begin to burn.
Top with the crumble and transfer the oven-proof skillet to the oven or transfer to an 8x8 pan as mentioned above.
Crumble the topping evenly over the filling.
Bake at 375 F for about 20 minutes. (Don’t over-bake - everything is pretty much edible anyhow.)
Take oven precautions in case the filling bubbles over. Let cool a bit. Serve with ice cream.
This can stay (covered) at room temperature for 1-2 days but then should be refrigerated to avoid mould, Warm again to serve.
Notes and Tips...
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