Apple Blackberry Crisp

I’m not big on sweets so I don’t make them very often. When I do make dessert, it is usually for a special occasion. Like last week, it was my boyfriend’s birthday and I wanted to make him something special. When I asked him what he wanted for dessert, he said that he had no preference so I began to ponder what to make. When I thought over some possibilities: brownies, tiramisu, carrot cake, and so on I remembered how special apple crisp has been to my family and how much I love it.

When I was younger my dad used to make apple crisp topped with vanilla ice cream for my family. The warm sweet apples, sometimes mixed with juicy sour berries, topped with a crumbly sweet topping and served with a cool creamy ice cream always delighted my taste buds and brought a smile to my face. My parents did such a wonderful job making special traditions that brought our family closer together. And with my dad, food or nature always seemed to be at the center of it.

Now that I am older, I like to do what I’ve learned from my dad: share my cooking with the people I love in tradition and celebration. So that is exactly what I decided to do with this apple blackberry crisp.

I love the way this one turned out. Its not overly sweet, yet it gets a nice sweetness and tartness from the apples and berries. The topping is crunchy and crumbly and when you put a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, it just pulls the whole thing together. This is a great fall dessert that has brought a lot of joy to my family and I. In sharing it today, I hope it brings joy to many others!

With love from my kitchen to yours,

Kayley

Apple Blackberry Crisp

Yields9 Servings
Prep Time18 minsCook Time1 hrTotal Time1 hr 18 mins

Ingredients-
 1 cup almonds
 1 cup rolled oats
 6 tbsp whole wheat flour
 ¼ cup pecans
  cup and 1 tbsp sugar
 ½ tsp heaping cinnamon
 a pinch of ground ginger
 a pinch of nutmeg
 ¼ tsp salt
 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter (3/4 of a cup)
 2 granny smith apples (the green ones)
 4 red apples of your choice (gravenstein or pink lady are great options)
 2 ¼ cups black berries

Recipe-
1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and coat a 8 in X 11 in baking dish with a thin layer of butter.

2

Then we start by making the crisp topping. This step can be done the day before if desired. To make the topping blend 3/4 cup almonds, 1/2 cup oats, and 6 tbsp flour in a blender till you have a fine almond oat wheat flour blend. Next add 1/4 cup almonds and 1/4 cup pecans to the blender. Blend only enough to break the nuts up into chunks. Then add the other 1/2 cup of oats, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Blender on low just enough to mix and break the oats up slightly. The resulting product should be a flour with chunks of nuts and oats and every consistency in between the two.

3

Next melt the butter over medium heat. Be careful not to heat it over too hot a flame, for this can brown or burn the butter. Next transfer the nut oat flour mixture to a large bowl. Add the butter and mix well with a wisk or large spoon. Transfer to a tuperware and store in fridge till ready.

4

Now for the apple blackberry part! Prepare a large bowl with cold ice water and set aside. Cut, core, and partially peal apples. Then cut them into 1 cubic cm chunks. To easily achieve the partially pealed effect, I just cut part of the peal off with my knife. Place apples in the bowl of ice water immediatly after cutting them to prevent the apples from browning.

5

Once you have cut all the apples, drain all of the ice water out of the bowl. Transfer the apples to the buttered 8 in X 11 in baking dish. Push down on the apples with the palm of your hand to condense. Next add blackberries (If you have very large black berries, cut them into smaller pieces), mix in evenly, and press down again to condense the fruit. Then spread an even layer of the crisp topping over the top and bake for about 50 minutes. You will know the crisp is done when the top is slightly browned and the crisp is bubbling a little. Once done, let cool for 10 minutes. This part is hard but it comes out of the oven very hot and I think it's best to wait and let it cool before you eat it. After your crisp has cooled, serve with vanilla ice cream and enjoy!

Ingredients

Ingredients-
 1 cup almonds
 1 cup rolled oats
 6 tbsp whole wheat flour
 ¼ cup pecans
  cup and 1 tbsp sugar
 ½ tsp heaping cinnamon
 a pinch of ground ginger
 a pinch of nutmeg
 ¼ tsp salt
 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter (3/4 of a cup)
 2 granny smith apples (the green ones)
 4 red apples of your choice (gravenstein or pink lady are great options)
 2 ¼ cups black berries

Directions

Recipe-
1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and coat a 8 in X 11 in baking dish with a thin layer of butter.

2

Then we start by making the crisp topping. This step can be done the day before if desired. To make the topping blend 3/4 cup almonds, 1/2 cup oats, and 6 tbsp flour in a blender till you have a fine almond oat wheat flour blend. Next add 1/4 cup almonds and 1/4 cup pecans to the blender. Blend only enough to break the nuts up into chunks. Then add the other 1/2 cup of oats, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Blender on low just enough to mix and break the oats up slightly. The resulting product should be a flour with chunks of nuts and oats and every consistency in between the two.

3

Next melt the butter over medium heat. Be careful not to heat it over too hot a flame, for this can brown or burn the butter. Next transfer the nut oat flour mixture to a large bowl. Add the butter and mix well with a wisk or large spoon. Transfer to a tuperware and store in fridge till ready.

4

Now for the apple blackberry part! Prepare a large bowl with cold ice water and set aside. Cut, core, and partially peal apples. Then cut them into 1 cubic cm chunks. To easily achieve the partially pealed effect, I just cut part of the peal off with my knife. Place apples in the bowl of ice water immediatly after cutting them to prevent the apples from browning.

5

Once you have cut all the apples, drain all of the ice water out of the bowl. Transfer the apples to the buttered 8 in X 11 in baking dish. Push down on the apples with the palm of your hand to condense. Next add blackberries (If you have very large black berries, cut them into smaller pieces), mix in evenly, and press down again to condense the fruit. Then spread an even layer of the crisp topping over the top and bake for about 50 minutes. You will know the crisp is done when the top is slightly browned and the crisp is bubbling a little. Once done, let cool for 10 minutes. This part is hard but it comes out of the oven very hot and I think it's best to wait and let it cool before you eat it. After your crisp has cooled, serve with vanilla ice cream and enjoy!

Notes

Apple Blackberry Crisp

Nutrition:

Ingredients Calories Fat Carbs Protein
1 cup almonds 825 73g 29g 29g
1 cup oats 306 5.2g 54g 10.6g
6 tbsp flour 180 0.8g 36g 6g
1/4 cup pecans 187 19.4g 3.7g 2.5g
1/3 cup and 1 tbsp sugar 285 0g 76g 0g
3/4 cup butter 1,224 144g 0.1g 1.4g
6 apples 522.5 1.7g 137.5g 2.6g
2 1/4 cup blackberries 96.8 1.1g 22.5g 2.3g
Total (Serves 9) 3,626.3 245.2g 358.8g 54.4g
1 Serving (1/9th of the crisp) 402.9 27.2g 39.9g 6.0g

Notes:

  • Nutrition is based on the products I use. I provide a nutrition table so that you can quickly check to see if your food product s match or so that you can easily calculate the nutrition for any changes you want to make to the recipe. I think this helps if you have very specific diet goals and/or fitness and/or health goals. I also wanted you to be able to see exactly where I get the numbers for my nutrition facts so that you can see that they are reliable and learn more about macro breakdowns of food.

(1, 2, 3)

Works Cited

1. “Blackberry Nutrition.” Driscolls. https://www.driscolls.com/berries/blackberries/nutrition. Accessed 26 September 2018.

2. Fat Secret. https://www.fatsecret.com/ Accessed 26 September 2018.

3. Nutritionix. Gladson. https://www.nutritionix.com/ Accessed 26 September 2018.