Yes, I know this is the second strawberry dessert I’ve posted in less than a week. I can’t help myself. We’re bringing home farm stand strawberries practically every day now. I’ve already made Strawberry Shortcake once and will definitely make it again before the season’s over, but for something different this time I made a simple Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp combining our daily berry haul with rhubarb from our garden.
Fruit crisps are like crumb-topped pies without the bottom crust – not as special as pie maybe, but exponentially quicker and easier, doable for a weeknight or whenever you have a glut of fruit and a sweet tooth. (Is that every day in summer?)
Our garden rhubarb is very green, not ideal for desserts where rhubarb is the only fruit (like these Rhubarb Crumble Bars, which need the rosiest reddest rhubarb you can find). But it’s fine for this crisp where the strawberries contribute more than their share of vibrant, jewel-toned red.
Crisps can have juicier fillings than pies, because there’s no bottom crust to get soggy. That’s a good thing here because strawberries are prolific juice producers, especially native farm stand berries picked at their peak. In the recipe I’ve listed a range for the amount of cornstarch to add because it’s up to you how juicy you want to make this. When I make a strawberry rhubarb pie, I thicken up the filling quite a bit with extra cornstarch to protect the crust; here I let it loose a little bit, for extra syrup that will puddle in the bowl and mix with pools of melting vanilla ice cream.
Use the lower end of the cornstarch range if you want it syrupy, or if you’re using off-season, non-native strawberries, which will give off a lot less liquid as they cook down. If you want more of a pie-filling consistency, use the full amount of cornstarch.
The topping is sweet, buttery and crumbly, and as it bakes it forms a crispy cap that eventually becomes an island in a glossy, bubbling, bright red sea.
Making Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp ahead and what to do with leftovers.
- The crisp can be baked earlier in the day, cooled completely, and left at room temperature. When you’re ready to serve, reheat the whole dish in a 300 degree oven for 20 minutes or until warm all the way through.
- If you’re making the crisp the day before, or if you’re keeping leftovers, cover the dish and store the crisp in the refrigerator. Leftovers will keep for several days and are just as good cold as they are reheated in the oven (which re-crisps the topping) or microwave (which doesn’t). I love it for breakfast with a little vanilla yogurt on top in place of the ice cream.
Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
Ingredients
- 1 quart (about 1½ pounds) of strawberries, hulled and thickly sliced
- ¾ pound (12 ounces) rhubarb, cut in ½” pieces
- 1¼ cups granulated sugar, divided
- 2½ to 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- Kosher salt
- ¾ cup (3 1/8 ounces or 90 grams) all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 8 tablespoons (4 ounces or 1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
- ½ cup old fashioned oats
- Vanilla ice cream, yogurt or whipped cream for serving
Directions
- Step 1 Heat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Step 2 Put the strawberries and rhubarb in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine ¾ cup of the granulated sugar with the cornstarch, cinnamon, and ¼ teaspoon of Diamond Crystal kosher salt, or 1/8 teaspoon of Morton’s. Use 3 tablespoons of the cornstarch for a thicker filling, or 2½ tablespoons for a juicier filling or when using off-peak strawberries.
- Step 3 Add the dry ingredients to the fruit and stir well to combine. Set this mixture aside while you make the topping.
- Step 4 Combine the flour, the remaining ½ cup sugar, the brown sugar and a pinch of kosher salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the butter is the size of peas. Dump the mixture into a bowl, and use your hands to briefly work the mixture, pinching with your fingers to make sure the butter is evenly distributed through the flour. Add the oats, and toss to combine.
- Step 5 Use a rubber spatula to scrape the fruit into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate or a baking dish of similar size. Scrape the bowl to get all the juices and any sugar/flour coating that’s clinging to the bowl. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit filling.
- Step 6 Put the pie plate on a foil-lined baking sheet to catch drips. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the juices are bubbling and the topping is golden brown and crisp.
- Step 7 Let the crisp cool for 15 minutes before serving. Top the warm crisp with vanilla ice cream, yogurt or whipped cream.
