Nigella Lawson's Blackberry Crisp

Aired on: November 14, 2007

Another glorious nursery-reworking, and none the worse for that. I feel that in the interests of fair trading, I should probably name this Blackberry Soggy, since what is so delish about it is its butter-fudgy topping, but since “crisp” is what these kinds of non-crumble pies are known as, I stick to that.

It’s simplicity itself to make, and the daughter of a friend of mine, who had never, ever made a dessert or baked anything before, has had a runaway success with it that threatens to go, delightfully, to her head. But a dessert this good quite reasonably causes evangelical fervor. Its ease of assembly is a bonus.

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup flaked almonds
1/4 cup sunflower kernels
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 cups blackberries
1/4 cup vanilla or granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Yields: 4-6 servings

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Melt the butter and put to one side for a mo.

Combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, almonds, kernels, and cinnamon in a bowl. Tip the blackberries into a wide shallow baking dish (I used one here with a 3-cup capacity), sprinkle over the vanilla sugar and cornstarch, and tumble about to mix.

Stir the melted butter into the crisp topping and spoon on top of the blackberries to cover but not absolutely thoroughly. Bake for 25 minutes and serve with ice cream or heavy cream.