Crumble Crazy!

Hi!
**Warning: The first part of this post has absolutely nothing to do with food. Instead, it is me demonstrating my excitement about this upcoming weekend. Also, I apologize ahead of time for this post being so unusually long.**

Hope everyone is doing well and staying out of the heat. We aren't really having true hot weather (I think summer forgot about Portland), but it has been a little muggy and because we don't have air conditioning in our house, even just a little heat outside makes us pretty toasty inside. We are, however, hoping for some actual summer weather this weekend, as Andrew and I are going camping with some friends at one of our favorite spots near Mt. Hood, called Timothy Lake. We have taken my sisters and my dad there in the past and it is really, really beautiful and peaceful. However, the water is really cold (as it's snow melt from the mountain) and it needs to be quite warm outside for it to be bearable to swim. Andrew and I have our "boat" that we are taking with us (its a blow-up boat, but a boat nonetheless) and we can't wait to relax out on the water and eat some good camp food! This is a picture of the lake from one of our past camping trips:

And of Andrew in our boat:

We are actually going to be in a campground called Little Crater Lake, which is a short hike to Timothy Lake. Little Crater Lake is nice to look at for, oh, about 5 minutes, but it is pretty cool how blue the water is. Nothing like the real Crater Lake though, which is ah-mazing. Almost as crazy as the Grand Canyon. Here's Little Crater lake:

And here are some pics of the real one (which is in southern Oregon), from when my dad came up for a camping trip:

Pretty cool, huh? Anyway, we are super excited to get away for the first time in a while!

Okay, back to food. Within the past couple of months, I have gone a little crumble crazy. Not that long ago I posted this recipe about a Strawberry Pineapple Crumble and since that time, I have been busy trying a couple of different fruit combinations and toppings to see which I like best. I heart fruity summer desserts and I honestly can't decide which I liked best.

This first recipe is for a Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble from Smitten Kitchen. Before this, I had only eaten rhubarb one other time in my life and on that occasion, it was served to me. Rhubarb really looks like giant red celery and it seems so weird to me that it is a "dessert" food. But, my oh my is it tasty. The topping on this one was super sweet, almost like the crumble topping on coffee cake. I don't know if there was supposed to so much juice after it baked (see the picture below), but it still tasted good. Here's the recipe and some pics of the finished product:

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble
Yields 6 to 8 servings.

For the topping:
1 1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons Demerara sugar (or turbinado sugar aka Sugar in the Raw)
Zest of one lemon
1/4 pound (1 stick or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:
1 1/2 cups rhubarb, chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 quart strawberries plus a few extras, hulled, quartered
Juice of one lemon
1/2 cup sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons cornstarch (some commenters found the flour option a little too, well, floury so this has been updated)
Pinch of salt

Directions
1. Heat oven to 375°F. Prepare topping: In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugars and lemon zest and add the melted butter. Mix until small and large clumps form. Refrigerate until needed.
2. Prepare filling: Toss rhubarb, strawberries, lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch and a pinch of salt in a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate. (I used an oval dish this time, because they fit better in the bottom of a shopping bag.)
3. Remove topping from refrigerator and cover fruit thickly and evenly with topping. Place pie plate on a (foil-lined, if you really want to think ahead) baking sheet, and bake until crumble topping is golden brown in places and fruit is bubbling beneath, about 40 to 50 minutes.

The second crumble recipe is for a Peach Raspberry Crumble from Joy the Baker. This one really screams "summer" to me, probably because I associate peaches with all of the summers I spent with my family in Georgia. Anyway, the topping on this one was almost in between that of the Strawberry-Pineapple and the Strawberry Rhubarb. It wasn't too sweet and because of the oats, it seemed to have a little more substance to it. I made this twice within 2 weeks. Once for just Andrew and myself and another time for a 4th of July party. It went over really well. Here it is:

Peach and Raspberry Crumble
(makes 1 8×8-inch square baking dish)

Ingredients:
5-6 medium ripe peaches, sliced
1 cup fresh raspberries (if using frozen, just thaw and drain)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes

Directions:
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Place sliced peaches and raspberries in a square 8×8-inch baking dish and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, oats, spices, and salt. Add the butter and toss the mixture together with your hands. Break the butter up into the flour mixture until the butter is the size of small pebbles and oat flakes.

Toss a generous handful (about 1 cup) of crumble topping into the peach and raspberry mixture. Toss loosely with your hands. Spread fruit evenly in the pan and top with the remaining crumble mixture. Bake until fruit is juicy and bubbling, and the top of the crumble is slightly browned and crisp, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool slightly, and serve with vanilla ice cream. Crumble is delicious served warm and can be stored, covered, in the fridge and reheated in the oven or microwave for serving.

Have you guys made any delicious desserts this summer? Or, have you taken any fun camping trips or other vacations? I would love to hear about them!

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!