Berry Crumble

This dessert is the perfect combination of sweet, tart, crispy, and buttery. There are few things better than this paired with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream. It is so satisfying yet light enough that you come back craving more. This recipe is taken pretty much straight from Food Wishes (Chef John) and I would recommend following that almost directly. The double-layer crumble with the unevenly shaped crumbles on top really makes a world of difference.

Active Time: 30 min

Total Time: 1 hr 45 min


Ingredients

For the crumble:
> AP flour (2 cups)
> sugar (3/4 cup)
> salt (1/4 tsp)
> baking powder (3/4 tsp)
> unsalted butter, frozen (1.5 sticks)
> vanilla extract (1.5 tsp)
> egg yolks (2)
> apple cider vinegar (1.5 tsp)
For the berry mixture:
> raspberries, blueberries, blackberries (18-24 oz)
> juice + zest of 1/2 small lemon
> sugar (1/3 cup)
> corn starch (4 tsp)


Instructions

1. Mix together flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a large mixing bowl.
2. Grate in frozen butter into the dry ingredients. Every 1/4 stick or so, use a fork to mix the butter in with the dry ingredients. Doesn't need to be vigorous; just make sure that the butter is coated in flour.
3. Add the vanilla extract, egg yolks, and apple cider vinegar. Mix thoroughly using a fork for a couple of minutes.
4. Mix using your hands for a minute or so, squeezing and forming the dough into clumps.
5. Prepare the berry mixture by adding all the ingredients together and mixing until well combined.
6. In a baking dish, press half of the crumble mixture flat onto the bottom surface, forming essentially a "pie bottom".
7. Pour the berry mixture in, making sure it forms an even layer.
8. "Crumble" the remaining crumble and scatter on top of the berry mixture. You'll want crumbles of various, irregular sizes. Some large, some small. According to Chef John, use the "squeeze and separate" technique.
9. Bake in a 375F oven for ~45 minutes, or until the top is starting to turn golden brown and the berries are bubbling out from the crumble.
10. Let cool for at least 30 minutes, ideally to room temperature. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Enjoy!


Notes/Tips:

> It might seem like there's not much liquid in the crumble mixture, and there really isn't. All you want is enough liquid such that it can form clumps, no more than that. You may even want to withold the apple cider vinegar, try mixing everything together without it, and only add as much apple cider vinegar as you need to make everything come together.
> Make sure your butter is frozen before trying to grate it. If coming from the fridge, it will warm up, become difficult to grate, and make it impossibly difficult to clean your grater afterwards.
> Use whatever berries (frozen or fresh) or other fruit (peaches or cherries would be delightful) that you desire! I used about half raspberries half blueberries because that's what I had.
> This recipe is juuust under the amount that you'd want for a 9x13 baking dish (I didn't have quite enough crumble at the end, and it didn't have as nice of a crumble top as I would have liked). Adjust the recipe accordingly based on how much you're looking to make.
> Uneven texture / size of crumbles is key to achieving the delicious texture of this dessert! Scatter some small crumbles over the top, but also make sure to clump them together into larger crumbles and put some of those over as well.
> Feel free to adjust the amount of fruit depending on whether you prefer more berry or more crumble (the range indicated above is a good starting guideline)