the healthiest dessert you will ever see on this blog.

i said the healthiest..i didn't say it was healthy.

Berry Rutabaga Crumble

here's why it's "healthy":

5 cups of frozen or fresh berries 

2 cups of frozen or fresh rutabaga

1 cup of old fashioned oats (quick cooking is also fine)

here's why it's a delicious tasting dessert:

1 cup of flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 stick of butter, diced. (you want to keep the butter in the fridge until you need it so its super cold)

1/4 of a cup of white sugar, (you can sub in stevia if you'd like but i don't mess with the fake stuff)

1/2 T cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup of water (dont skip this, this is what creates that jelly like binding that you find in crumbles/cobblers)

1 pinch of salt

Okay here's how you do it. It's REALLY easy.

heat the oven to 350. 

if you are using frozen fruit defrost it in the microwave. RESERVE THE JUICE/WATER that will be at the bottom of the bowl in which you defrost.

add the fruit to a 9 x 11, or 8 x 8 (whatever) baking pan

add 1/4 cup of sugar. sometimes, i don't even add sugar if the fruit is especially sweet. I will tell you that most cobbler recipes use more than 1 cup of sugar but I love fruit in it's natural form and I don't see the need to waste sugar intake on something that is already so delicious. 

now, if you used frozen fruit, measure out 1/4 cup of the reserved juice/water (it's usually red/purple in color) if you don't have enough for 1/4 of a cup just add water until you do. if you are using fresh fruit, just measure out 1/4 cup of water. Now, dissolve 1/2 T of cornstarch into this liquid.

Pour this into the sugar and fruit. You will immediately see the color change and the fruit jelly-ness starting to set in.

Set aside while you make the topping.

Combine the flour, brown sugar, salt, and oats in a mixing bowl. 

Dice up a stick of butter. Into pieces about this size.

Add the butter to the dry ingredients and using your hand (or a paddle attachment on an electric mixer if you are fancier than I am) and blend together until all of the dry ingredients are moistened and little crumbles/balls have formed. You can also use wooden spoon to do this. Warning: for those of you who, like me, do not have fancy kitchen gadgets-your about to get a nice arm work out. but hey, at least you'll burn off some calories before you eat this.

Once the topping is fully moistened and has formed little balls and crumbles, sprinkle the topping over the fruit. 

Pop into the oven and bake for 40-60 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the fruit is starting to bubble out.  

Serve hot with some cold vanilla ice cream or some home made whipped cream. 

(I made whipped cream in a blender to eat with this: put 1 cup heavy cream, sprinkle of sugar, dash of vanilla extract into a blender, let it whirl for a few seconds and you're good to go!..I know, some of my cooking methods are semi-degenerative but just go with it) The whip cream should peak when put on a spoon:

Don't judge my interpretation of "dollop"....

I love this recipe because you hit so many taste profiles. hot fruit with cold whipped cream. Crunchy topping with smooth filling. YUM!