Crumble Topping

On Fri 15 Jul 2005 06:08:23p, TammyM wrote in rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

I made a blackberry crumble last weekend, and was disappointed in the
topping. It hardly browned at all, looked rather pasty in fact,
although it tasted fine. Any suggestions for improvement would be
greatly appreciated, as I picked another several cups of berries from
the backyard this morning and would like to give it another go. Even
though it's 105F outside! LOL, can't let the berries go to waste!

Here's the recipe I used - I doubled the proportions and added about
1/4 teasp or so of cinnamon along with the flour and salt. I used a
flat-ish corningware baking dish.

Blackberry Crumble (from southernfood.about.com)
INGREDIENTS:

* 2 cups washed blackberries
* 2/3 cup sugar
* 2 tablespoons lemon juice, or juice of 1 lemon
* 3 tablespoons butter
* 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/8 teaspoon salt

PREPARATION:
Put blackberries in a 1-quart baking dish with half of the sugar.
Sprinkle with lemon juice. Cream butter, remaining sugar, flour, and
salt together; sprinkle over berries. Bake blackberry crumble at 350°
for 40 minutes. Serve warm or cold with cream, ice cream, or dessert
sauce. Blackberry crumble dessert recipe serves 4

This sounds delicious, and I can only say that I'm surprised that the
topping didn't brown well. I've never made a "crumble", but I do make
crumble topped fruit pies and they always brown, although they are baked
longer than your crumble.

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
____________________________________________

Give me a smart idiot over a stupid genius any day.
Sam Goldwyn, 1882-1974

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Wayne Boatwright said:

On Fri 15 Jul 2005 06:08:23p, TammyM wrote in rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

I made a blackberry crumble last weekend, and was disappointed in the
topping. It hardly browned at all, looked rather pasty in fact,
although it tasted fine. Any suggestions for improvement would be
greatly appreciated, as I picked another several cups of berries from
the backyard this morning and would like to give it another go. Even
though it's 105F outside! LOL, can't let the berries go to waste!

Here's the recipe I used - I doubled the proportions and added about
1/4 teasp or so of cinnamon along with the flour and salt. I used a
flat-ish corningware baking dish.

Blackberry Crumble (from southernfood.about.com)
INGREDIENTS:

* 2 cups washed blackberries
* 2/3 cup sugar
* 2 tablespoons lemon juice, or juice of 1 lemon
* 3 tablespoons butter
* 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/8 teaspoon salt

PREPARATION:
Put blackberries in a 1-quart baking dish with half of the sugar.
Sprinkle with lemon juice. Cream butter, remaining sugar, flour, and
salt together; sprinkle over berries. Bake blackberry crumble at 350°
for 40 minutes. Serve warm or cold with cream, ice cream, or dessert
sauce. Blackberry crumble dessert recipe serves 4

This sounds delicious, and I can only say that I'm surprised that the
topping didn't brown well. I've never made a "crumble", but I do make
crumble topped fruit pies and they always brown, although they are baked
longer than your crumble.

Hi Wayne,
Well, in truth, I did bake it longer when I realized it was a Caspar
the friendly Ghost crumble! But it never did brown up. It tasted
good though :-) I like adding cinnamon to blackberry
pie/crumble/cobbler, and also to plum jam, it really complements the
flavours nicely.

I may try Delia Smith's crumble recipe and see if I like that any
better.

TammyM
Sacramento, California

"TammyM" wrote ...

Quoted message said:

I made a blackberry crumble last weekend, and was disappointed in the
topping. It hardly browned at all, looked rather pasty in fact,
although it tasted fine. Any suggestions for improvement would be
greatly appreciated, as I picked another several cups of berries from
the backyard this morning and would like to give it another go. Even
though it's 105F outside! LOL, can't let the berries go to waste!

Here's the recipe I used - I doubled the proportions and added about
1/4 teasp or so of cinnamon along with the flour and salt. I used a
flat-ish corningware baking dish.

(recipe snipped for brevity)

Perhaps broiling a minute or two would be enough to brown the surface for
esthetics, which are important in food presentation. --- Pam

On Fri 15 Jul 2005 07:01:25p, TammyM wrote in rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

Wayne Boatwright said:

On Fri 15 Jul 2005 06:08:23p, TammyM wrote in rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

I made a blackberry crumble last weekend, and was disappointed in the
topping. It hardly browned at all, looked rather pasty in fact,
although it tasted fine. Any suggestions for improvement would be
greatly appreciated, as I picked another several cups of berries from
the backyard this morning and would like to give it another go. Even
though it's 105F outside! LOL, can't let the berries go to waste!

Here's the recipe I used - I doubled the proportions and added about
1/4 teasp or so of cinnamon along with the flour and salt. I used a
flat-ish corningware baking dish.

Blackberry Crumble (from southernfood.about.com)
INGREDIENTS:

* 2 cups washed blackberries
* 2/3 cup sugar
* 2 tablespoons lemon juice, or juice of 1 lemon
* 3 tablespoons butter
* 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/8 teaspoon salt

PREPARATION:
Put blackberries in a 1-quart baking dish with half of the sugar.
Sprinkle with lemon juice. Cream butter, remaining sugar, flour, and
salt together; sprinkle over berries. Bake blackberry crumble at 350°
for 40 minutes. Serve warm or cold with cream, ice cream, or dessert
sauce. Blackberry crumble dessert recipe serves 4

This sounds delicious, and I can only say that I'm surprised that the
topping didn't brown well. I've never made a "crumble", but I do make
crumble topped fruit pies and they always brown, although they are baked
longer than your crumble.

Hi Wayne,
Well, in truth, I did bake it longer when I realized it was a Caspar
the friendly Ghost crumble! But it never did brown up. It tasted
good though :-) I like adding cinnamon to blackberry
pie/crumble/cobbler, and also to plum jam, it really complements the
flavours nicely.

I may try Delia Smith's crumble recipe and see if I like that any
better.

TammyM
Sacramento, California

Tammy, I glanced at several of Delia's crumble recipes online and don't
think the proportions of your recipe are markedly different, although she
does include nuts in many of hers.

You might try baking on a higher rack, and also starting out at a higher
temperature for 15 minutes as is recommended for a pie. Say 15 at 425,
then 30-45 at 350-375. That should brown it up.

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
____________________________________________

Give me a smart idiot over a stupid genius any day.
Sam Goldwyn, 1882-1974

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Tested on: 7/15/2005 7:36:31 PM
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Wayne Boatwright said:

On Fri 15 Jul 2005 07:01:25p, TammyM wrote in rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

Wayne Boatwright said:

On Fri 15 Jul 2005 06:08:23p, TammyM wrote in rec.food.cooking:

> I made a blackberry crumble last weekend, and was disappointed in the
> topping. It hardly browned at all, looked rather pasty in fact,
> although it tasted fine. Any suggestions for improvement would be
> greatly appreciated, as I picked another several cups of berries from
> the backyard this morning and would like to give it another go. Even
> though it's 105F outside! LOL, can't let the berries go to waste!
>
> Here's the recipe I used - I doubled the proportions and added about
> 1/4 teasp or so of cinnamon along with the flour and salt. I used a
> flat-ish corningware baking dish.
>
>
> Blackberry Crumble (from southernfood.about.com)
> INGREDIENTS:
>
> * 2 cups washed blackberries
> * 2/3 cup sugar
> * 2 tablespoons lemon juice, or juice of 1 lemon
> * 3 tablespoons butter
> * 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
> * 1/8 teaspoon salt
>
> PREPARATION:
> Put blackberries in a 1-quart baking dish with half of the sugar.
> Sprinkle with lemon juice. Cream butter, remaining sugar, flour, and
> salt together; sprinkle over berries. Bake blackberry crumble at 350°
> for 40 minutes. Serve warm or cold with cream, ice cream, or dessert
> sauce. Blackberry crumble dessert recipe serves 4
>

This sounds delicious, and I can only say that I'm surprised that the
topping didn't brown well. I've never made a "crumble", but I do make
crumble topped fruit pies and they always brown, although they are baked
longer than your crumble.

Hi Wayne,
Well, in truth, I did bake it longer when I realized it was a Caspar
the friendly Ghost crumble! But it never did brown up. It tasted
good though :-) I like adding cinnamon to blackberry
pie/crumble/cobbler, and also to plum jam, it really complements the
flavours nicely.

I may try Delia Smith's crumble recipe and see if I like that any
better.

TammyM
Sacramento, California

Tammy, I glanced at several of Delia's crumble recipes online and don't
think the proportions of your recipe are markedly different, although she
does include nuts in many of hers.

Yes, I just looked at one, and I agree, they're pretty similar.

Quoted message said:

You might try baking on a higher rack, and also starting out at a higher
temperature for 15 minutes as is recommended for a pie. Say 15 at 425,
then 30-45 at 350-375. That should brown it up.

I'll give it a shot and report back. Thanks, Wayne!

TammyM

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden]

(TammyM) said:

I made a blackberry crumble last weekend, and was disappointed in the
topping. It hardly browned at all, looked rather pasty in fact,
although it tasted fine. Any suggestions for improvement would be
greatly appreciated,

Slip it under the broiler for a minute or so -- keep an eye on it.
--
-Barb, <http://www.jamlady.eboard.com> 7/8/05 WeBeJammin'!

TammyM wrote on 15 Jul 2005 in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

I made a blackberry crumble last weekend, and was disappointed in
the topping. It hardly browned at all, looked rather pasty in
fact, although it tasted fine. Any suggestions for improvement
would be greatly appreciated, as I picked another several cups of
berries from the backyard this morning and would like to give it
another go. Even though it's 105F outside! LOL, can't let the
berries go to waste!

I've always had success with the Crisp recipe below. Mind you I
usually only make apple crisp. But a crisp is a crisp. The recipe is
from. http://www.quakeroats.com/qfb_Recipes/SearchResults.cfm
This is a search page which has a mess of crisp recipes. When I got the
recipe in the 90's their site was different. The blueberry crisp recipe
on their search page looks good too.

You'll probably have to cut the topping recipe in half for the 4 cups
of berries you plan on using.

I like the oat and nut topping...similar to what Mom made. I had to
look the recipe up as I do it by rote mostly.

fresh fruit crisp

ingredients

Filling
6 cups peeled, thinly sliced apples, peaches or pears (6 to 8
medium)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Topping
1 cup Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts (optional)
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) margarine or butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream (optional)

preparation

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 8-inch square glass baking dish with
cooking spray.
2. For filling, combine fruit and water in large bowl. Add sugar,
flour and cinnamon; stir until fruit is evenly coated. Spoon into
baking dish.
3. For topping, combine all ingredients in medium bowl; mix well.
Sprinkle evenly over fruit.
4. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until fruit is tender. Serve warm with
ice cream or whipped cream, if desired.

Servings: 9 SERVINGS

variations
Cook’s Tip: If using apples, Jonathan, McIntosh, Winesap, Granny Smith,
Northern Spy,
Greening and Rome Beauty are recommended. One medium apple yields about
1 cup sliced or chopped. If using pears, Bartlett, Anjou, and Bosc are
recommended.

--
It's not a question of where he grips it!
It's a simple question of weight ratios!

A five ounce bird could not carry a one pound coconut.

Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

(TammyM) said:

Wayne Boatwright said:

On Fri 15 Jul 2005 06:08:23p, TammyM wrote in rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

I made a blackberry crumble last weekend, and was disappointed in the
topping. It hardly browned at all, looked rather pasty in fact,
although it tasted fine. Any suggestions for improvement would be
greatly appreciated, as I picked another several cups of berries from
the backyard this morning and would like to give it another go. Even
though it's 105F outside! LOL, can't let the berries go to waste!

Here's the recipe I used - I doubled the proportions and added about
1/4 teasp or so of cinnamon along with the flour and salt. I used a
flat-ish corningware baking dish.

I misspoke here. I add the cinnamon with the sugar that goes into the
berries! Significant difference, hope I didn't lead anyone astray!

Reminder to self: never post when tired ;-)

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Blackberry Crumble (from southernfood.about.com)
INGREDIENTS:

* 2 cups washed blackberries
* 2/3 cup sugar
* 2 tablespoons lemon juice, or juice of 1 lemon
* 3 tablespoons butter
* 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/8 teaspoon salt

PREPARATION:
Put blackberries in a 1-quart baking dish with half of the sugar.
Sprinkle with lemon juice. Cream butter, remaining sugar, flour, and
salt together; sprinkle over berries. Bake blackberry crumble at 350°
for 40 minutes. Serve warm or cold with cream, ice cream, or dessert
sauce. Blackberry crumble dessert recipe serves 4

This sounds delicious, and I can only say that I'm surprised that the
topping didn't brown well. I've never made a "crumble", but I do make
crumble topped fruit pies and they always brown, although they are baked
longer than your crumble.

Hi Wayne,
Well, in truth, I did bake it longer when I realized it was a Caspar
the friendly Ghost crumble! But it never did brown up. It tasted
good though :-) I like adding cinnamon to blackberry
pie/crumble/cobbler, and also to plum jam, it really complements the
flavours nicely.

I may try Delia Smith's crumble recipe and see if I like that any
better.

TammyM
Sacramento, California

"TammyM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I made a blackberry crumble last weekend, and was disappointed in the
topping. It hardly browned at all, looked rather pasty in fact,
although it tasted fine. Any suggestions for improvement would be
greatly appreciated, as I picked another several cups of berries from
the backyard this morning and would like to give it another go. Even
though it's 105F outside! LOL, can't let the berries go to waste!

Here's the recipe I used - I doubled the proportions and added about
1/4 teasp or so of cinnamon along with the flour and salt. I used a
flat-ish corningware baking dish.

Blackberry Crumble (from southernfood.about.com)
INGREDIENTS:

* 2 cups washed blackberries
* 2/3 cup sugar
* 2 tablespoons lemon juice, or juice of 1 lemon
* 3 tablespoons butter
* 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/8 teaspoon salt

PREPARATION:
Put blackberries in a 1-quart baking dish with half of the sugar.
Sprinkle with lemon juice. Cream butter, remaining sugar, flour, and
salt together; sprinkle over berries. Bake blackberry crumble at 350°
for 40 minutes. Serve warm or cold with cream, ice cream, or dessert
sauce. Blackberry crumble dessert recipe serves 4

I don't see any reason why it wouldn't brown. You could always slip it under
the broiler for a minute or two, but don't turn your back!
Here's the topping I use for Blackberry-Apple crisp. It's always turned out
beautifully browned and with a nice crunchiness to the very top.

Crisp Topping
-----------
1/2 cup flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3-1/2 cup butter, cold
----------------------
Combine all ingredients in a food processor until crumbly. Cover entire pie
with topping, patting down lightly before moving to oven so as not to spill
the topping all over your oven bottom 🙂

kimberly

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden]

(TammyM) said:

I made a blackberry crumble last weekend, and was disappointed in the
topping. It hardly browned at all, looked rather pasty in fact,
although it tasted fine. Any suggestions for improvement would be

Here's the streusel recipe from the Cook's Illustrated article about
Blueberry Buckle, July-August issue, page 23:

Streusel

1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tbsp grandulated sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch table salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, softened but still
cool.

In standing mixer fitted with flat beater, combine flour, sugars,
cinanmon, and salt on low speed until weel combined and no large brown
sugar lumps remain, about 45 econds. Add butter and mix on low until
mixture resembles wet sand and no large butter pieces remain, about
2-1/2 minutes.

Put streusel on whatever you're topping this way: Squeeze portion of
streusel in hand to form large cohesive clump; break up clump with
fingers and sprinkle streusel evenly over batter (see photo they
provide. :-0) Repeat with remaining streusel.

Maybe it's no improvement, but I thought their technique was interesting.
--
-Barb, <http://www.jamlady.eboard.com> 7/8/05 WeBeJammin'!

Melba's Jammin said:

Here's the streusel recipe from the Cook's Illustrated article about
Blueberry Buckle, July-August issue, page 23:

Streusel

1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tbsp grandulated sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch table salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, softened but still
cool.

In standing mixer fitted with flat beater, combine flour, sugars,
cinanmon, and salt on low speed until weel combined and no large brown
sugar lumps remain, about 45 econds. Add butter and mix on low until
mixture resembles wet sand and no large butter pieces remain, about
2-1/2 minutes.

Put streusel on whatever you're topping this way: Squeeze portion of
streusel in hand to form large cohesive clump; break up clump with
fingers and sprinkle streusel evenly over batter (see photo they
provide. :-0) Repeat with remaining streusel.

Maybe it's no improvement, but I thought their technique was interesting.

Hmmm. That is sort-of what *I* have ended up doing: pinching
the streusal as I scatter it, so it makes clumps. I woulda
thought there was a better way.

BTW, what do you think of CI's contention that one needs to
use a cookie batter for this? I can see the rationale, but I
can't say I liked that idea much, since I want something that
is somewhat cake-y....

--
Jean B.

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] wrote:
(snip me)

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Put streusel on whatever you're topping this way: Squeeze portion of
streusel in hand to form large cohesive clump; break up clump with
fingers and sprinkle streusel evenly over batter (see photo they
provide. :-0) Repeat with remaining streusel.

Maybe it's no improvement, but I thought their technique was
interesting.

Hmmm. That is sort-of what *I* have ended up doing: pinching
the streusal as I scatter it,

I kept typing it strewsel. Should've left it that way. "-)
--
-Barb, <http://www.jamlady.eboard.com> 7/8/05 WeBeJammin'!

Melba's Jammin said:

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden]

(TammyM) said:

I made a blackberry crumble last weekend, and was disappointed in the
topping. It hardly browned at all, looked rather pasty in fact,
although it tasted fine. Any suggestions for improvement would be

Here's the streusel recipe from the Cook's Illustrated article about
Blueberry Buckle, July-August issue, page 23:

Streusel

1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tbsp grandulated sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch table salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, softened but still
cool.

In standing mixer fitted with flat beater, combine flour, sugars,
cinanmon, and salt on low speed until weel combined and no large brown
sugar lumps remain, about 45 econds. Add butter and mix on low until
mixture resembles wet sand and no large butter pieces remain, about
2-1/2 minutes.

Put streusel on whatever you're topping this way: Squeeze portion of
streusel in hand to form large cohesive clump; break up clump with
fingers and sprinkle streusel evenly over batter (see photo they
provide. :-0) Repeat with remaining streusel.

Maybe it's no improvement, but I thought their technique was interesting.

At what temp do you bake it and for how long? It would certainly be
sweeter than the recipe I used, but I"m more'n willing to give it a
go, given that I wasn't satisfied with the rec I used.

TammyM