Strawberry Pineapple Crumble

Hi!
Long time, no blog. Summer is such an incredibly busy time of year for me in school and I have barely had time to do much else. I do have a couple of other posts that are long overdue, but they will have to wait for another day. Today, I wanted to spare a few moments from working on my dissertation (okay, okay, I really needed a break from working on it) to write about this delicious concoction of fruit, butter, sugar, and oats that I made over the weekend in anticipation of Andrew's return from his 10 year high school reunion (yikes, I know---we're getting old!).

Sidenote--is it normal to not really feel any different than you were 10 years ago? I for sure thought that by this time I'd feel "grown up" or something....but I really feel just the same. Hmm...

Okay, back to the deliciousness that is this strawberry pineapple crumble. Since this past weekend was Portland's first real taste of "summer"--it got into the 80's guys AND the sun made an appearance--I wanted to make a fruity summer dessert. Insert Joy the Baker's crumble recipe that combines two of my favorite fruits. My dad told me he thought that this sounded like an odd combination of fruit; however, I really think it was the perfect balance of sweet and tart. I have to say it didn't last long and I may have shed a tear after the last bite was devoured. Luckily, it's pretty easy and I have an almost full jar of oats just waiting to be baked in with either the same fruit combo or perhaps a different one? Strawberry rhubarb seems like a good idea.

Here's the recipe:

Strawberry Pineapple Crumble
Makes one 8-inch baking dish

Ingredients
• 1 pound strawberries, hulled and cut in half
• 1 pound peeled and diced fresh pineapple
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 3 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• pinch of salt
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
• 1 1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

Cooking Directions
• Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

• Toss diced fruit together in an 8-inch square baking dish.

• In a small dish, whisk together 3 tablespoons sugar, cornstarch, 1/4 cup of flour and pinch of salt. Toss the mixture with the diced fruit. Set aside.

• In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add the cold butter cubes. Use your fingers to break up the cold butter cubes into the flour mixture. Add the oats and toss together until the butter bits are about the size of the oat flakes. Pour the oat mixture over the prepared fruit.

• Place in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until juices from the fruit bubble up around the sides of the pan.

• Remove the crumble from the oven and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before serving. Crumble is delicious served warm with vanilla ice cream.

• Crumble can we wrapped and refrigerated for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave or wrapped in foil in a low oven.

Enjoy!