the northwest part 2: blackberry crisp.

Under the warm Washington sun last week we picked wild blackberries which, as I now understand it, grow nearly like weeds all over the island where we were staying.  But heck, have you ever picked blackberries?  They’re prickly and thorny and should really be done wearing gloves…which we didn’t have…so we just went for it, prickles and all.

The cost of living off the land, I told Emma.I thought $1.99/lb was a great deal on berries until last week.  It doesn’t get any better than free!

So let’s make a blackberry crisp!  Here are the berries Emma picked.  And just for the record, she chose to pick the berries without gloves….there was no forced child labor going on here

A little butter, oats, flour, sugar and cinnamon and we’ve got ourselves a crisp topping!

The sweetness of the topping (and ice cream if you dare) were heavenly with the tartness of the berries.  And what’s great is you can use any kind of berry or stone fruit you’d like.  Got yourself a blossoming peach tree?  Looking to put your leftover raspberries to use?  Well go to town…So yes, we went for the fresh vanilla bean ice cream since it WAS vacation after all.

Scrumptious.

Blackberry Crisp

(serves 4)

What You’ll Need:

3 cups blackberries (or other berries or stone fruits will work nicely)

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup oats

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Toss the berries in 1/4 cup sugar and, once thoroughly mixed, place berries in the bottom of an 8×8 serving dish.

Combine the oats, flour, sugars, and cinnamon in a medium mixing bowl.  Add butter and combine with a fork until mixture holds together and butter is evenly distributed.  Sprinkle over the fruit.

Place baking dish in the oven and cook 20-25 minutes, or until top is golden.  Enjoy warm or at room temperature.  Excellent with lightly sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

TOTAL:  $4.34 or $1.09 per serving

Take a look at my shopping guidelines spreadsheet for what I spend on various items that I often buy.

Nutrition:

418 calories per serving

4 grams of fat

70 carbs

6 grams protein

9 grams fiber

Give it a go and let me know what you think?  Or visit Facebook to share your thoughts, pics, ideas, etc.