All Kinds of Reviews
My friend Allison Davis came over for dinner with her son Zachary Friday night. They are vegetarians so I had plenty of veggies and salmon ready to go.
Actually, not quite ‘ready’. More like, the food was in the ‘fridge and I knew I would eventually get my act together and fix dinner. Dessert was also planned out in a very loosey goosey way.
I wanted to make a crisp because it is so easy to do and I knew I was pressed for time. I decided to go with a blueberry crisp and try a new ingredient – almond flour. Why? Because I had never used it before and had no idea what would happen.
I combined the almond flour with chopped almonds, sugar, brown sugar and butter for the topping and covered the gorgeous blueberries in a baking dish. 50 minutes later a fabulous dessert emerged.
As it turned out, Zachary was not terribly thrilled with my vegetarian meal, much preferring a bowl of macaroni and cheese, which I did not have on the menu. Allison, knowing that Zachary doesn’t always love to try new things, called him down to the kitchen saying, “Zach, Betsy made Blueberry Waffles for dessert!”
Really, those were her words. I think my expression was sending the message of, “Are you out of your mind???,” but we moms have to stick together.
Zachary and Samuel came into the kitchen, took one look at the dessert and called Ally’s bluff. So my dessert became known as Blueberry ‘Waffle’ Crisp with the ‘crisp’ barely whispered.
I wish I could say that Zachary tried the Crisp, fell in love with it and begged for more, but heh, we are talking about a 7 year old who has a very clear sense of what he wants to eat.
My epic failure, at least in the eyes of Zachary, turned into a tremendous success on Saturday when I brought some to share with my sorority sisters. Macaroni and cheese reviews from Zachary will always rate. Blueberry ‘Waffle’ Crisp reviews? Not so much!
| Blueberry 'Waffle' Crisp | Print |
- Blueberry layer:
- 3 pints blueberries, washed and dried
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Topping:
- 1½ cups almond flour
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup almonds, crushed
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- For the blueberry layer:
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Set aside an 8" x 12" baking dish.
- In a large bowl, gently stir together the blueberries, all purpose flour, brown sugar and lemon juice. Transfer to the baking dish and set aside.
- For the topping:
- In a large bowl, stir together the almond flour, sugar, brown sugar and almonds. Use your fingers to blend in the butter, but just until it is incorporated. You want the topping to have clumps.
- Cover the blueberries with the topping.
- Bake in a 350° oven for 50 minutes, rotating the pan front to back halfway through.
- Serve hot, room temperature or cold.
