Berry Crisp

Pies take a lot of work, and cobblers have too much of that floury dumpling topping for me, so I turn to crisps! It's pretty simple, macerate some berries, mix up some oat/cinnamon crumble, assemble and bake! It is so simple, you can assemble it and freeze until you need it, and then thaw and cook in the oven. Perfect for a potluck!

1. Macerate 4 or so cups of berries with about 2 TB sugar for raspberries, the amount of sugar depends on how sour your berries are. I like my crisp to have a little tartness, so I often add a teaspoon of lemon juice as well. Also add a tad bit of vanilla extract. If you have very runny berries/fruit, you can add a teaspoon or so of thickener like small tapioca pearls or all purpose flour.

2. Soften 1/4 C butter in a medium size bowl the microwave

3. Add to the softened butter and mix with a fork until combined and crumbly:
1/2 C rolled/quick cooking oats
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 C whole wheat pastry flour (or use all-purpose if that's all you have)
heaping 1/2 tea cinnamon (Costco sells deliciously fresh Saigon cinnamon for a good price)

4. Assemble the crisp: layer the macerated berries in the bottom of a suitably sized pyrex oven safe pan. Then layer the crumble topping.

5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-45 minutes (depends on how soft your fruit was, for example if you substituted apples you would want to cook longer, i.e. 45 minutes).