Is it a dessert? Is it a breakfast? Does it belong in fall? Winter? Summer? Spring? The answer is: Yes. Yes to all the things. Make it during whatever season, frozen berries are always available. Eat it in the morning and you’ve got yourself baked oatmeal (of sorts). Dress it up with some ice cream and you’ve got a dessert. Throw it in the freezer and future you has got happiness whenever the heck he/she wants! Like I said, the answer is yes.
I took my family’s blackberry pie recipe and contorted it into a *somewhat* healthier version of baked oatmeal for any season. I used whole wheat flour, less sugar, and put tons of oats on top so I could justify calling it a baked oatmeal when I wanted to avoid the “you’re eating dessert for breakfast” guilt. (However, if we’re being real, this has less sugar in it than most breakfast cereals – and I’m not just talking about kid’s sugar cereals. Do me a favor and see how many cups of cereal you usually eat in one sitting and look at the TOTAL sugar. I can almost guarantee this crisp is less of a dessert than most cereals are.)
I also added ginger to the berry mix. I feel like just a little bit of ginger can make the berries taste brighter and a little more tangy. As far as berry mixes go, try to avoid the bags of berries that have strawberries in them. The chunks are just way too big and you end up with a big slippery mush ball of a strawberry every other bite and it’s not all that enjoyable. I go for the bags that have raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. Costco has a big 4 lb bag that has enough berries to make 2 crisps and a few smoothies out of. I <3 Costco.
Also have I mentioned you can make this ahead of time and put it in the freezer? Imagine this – you put a freezer dinner in your crockpot in the morning and come home to a delicious dinner ready to eat, and then you pop a freezer crisp into the oven and have a warm, comforting dessert! No work! You deserve to make yourself a couple of these so you can have a couple of those evenings. This recipe also works with fresh berries, so if you have naturally abounding berries, like we have here in the Pacific Northwest, make a few for your freezer for a little taste of Summer during the Winter months.
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cups
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- 24 oz frozen berries (about 4.5-5 cups) $3.36
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour $0.09
- 1/4 cup white sugar $0.05
- 1 tsp ground ginger $0.17
- 2 tbsp lemon juice $0.28
- 2.5 cups old fashioned oats $0.98
- 1/4 cup whole wheat flour $0.04
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar $0.11
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil $0.11
- 1/4 cup maple syrup $0.88
- 1 tsp vanilla extract $0.03
- 1 tsp cinnamon $0.08
- 1/4 tsp salt <$0.01
Ingredients
Berry Filling
Oat Topping
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- Thaw the frozen berries. You can either leave them on the counter in a bowl for a couple of hours, or you can thaw them by running the bag under warm water.
- Once the berries are thawed, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9x9 inch baking dish with baking spray.
- Without draining the juices from the berries, put them in a medium-large bowl and gently stir in the flour, sugar, ginger, and lemon juice.
- Dump the berry mixture into the prepared baking dish.
- In a different Medium/Large bowl, mix together all of the Oat Topping Ingredients until they're combined well. Dump the Oat topping on top of the berry filling and spread it out evenly.
- Put the crisp into the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes. The filling should be bubbling around the edges and the oat topping should be turning a crispy golden brown.
- Nothing too fancy: follow all of the same instructions above, just put the ingredients in a disposable pan with a lid and put it in the freezer instead of the oven!
- Make sure you write these instructions on the lid: 1. Preheat oven to 350 2. Cover with foil and Bake for 50-60 minutes 3. Remove foil after 30 min
Servings: 8 Cups
Price for dish: $6.18
Price per cup: $0.77
Nutrition per cup:
Calories: 289
Protein: 5 g
Carbs: 49 g
Fat: 9 g
Sodium: 16 mg?
Fiber: 5 g
Sugar: 20 g
