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Red, White, and Blue Fruit Crisp

June 17, 2021
Red, White, and Blue Fruit Crisp

I have always loved fruit pies in the summer. Not the Crisco-laden double-crusted ones that my friends’ mothers always used to make, but rather buttery single-crust pies filled with peaches, blueberries, or whatever fruit was in season at the moment.

Featured in: The Ultimate Dessert for July Fourth: Red, White, and Blue Fruit Crisp

Ingredients

  • 1 ½cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • Dash salt
  • 1cup sugar (1/2 cup for the crust, 1/2 cup for the filling)
  • 1 ½sticks unsalted butter, or 3/4 cup coconut oil
  • 2large egg yolks
  • 10cups mixed strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries (or other fruit—see note above)
  • 1teaspoon grated lemon zest
  • ¼cup candied ginger, diced
  • vanilla ice cream
Yield: 8 servings

Preparation

  • Step 1

    To make the crust using a food processor fitted with a metal blade, pulse the flour, salt, and 1/2 cup sugar together. Divide the butter or coconut oil into smaller amounts, add gradually to the bowl, and process until crumbly. Add the egg yolks and process until a ball is formed, adding more flour if necessary. (To make the dough by hand, use your fingers or a pastry blender to work the butter into the flour, salt, and 1/2 cup sugar until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolks and work the dough into a ball.) Flatten the dough with your hands or a rolling pin to about a half-inch thickness, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least a half hour.

  • Step 2

    Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and put the fruit in a 9-by-13-inch Pyrex pan. Sprinkle lemon zest, the candied ginger, and the remaining 1/2 cup sugar over all; mix together with the fruit, using your hands. Then remove the crust from the refrigerator, pinch off nickel-sized bits of dough, and sprinkle over the top. You want it to be rustic.

  • Step 3

    Bake for about 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the fruit juicy. Remove from the oven and set on a rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature, topped with generous scoops of vanilla ice cream.

  • You can make different variations of this dessert all year round—with apples, cranberries, and fresh ginger in the fall and winter, or with rhubarb, apricots, plums, and strawberries in the late spring. The combination of strawberries and raspberries, blueberries and blackberries is a way to make it red, white, and blue for the Fourth of July. (Don’t forget the vanilla ice cream, the white part of the dish.)