Have you heard of bumbleberry?  It isn’t actually a berry, but a combination of fresh or frozen fruit including saskatoon berries, blueberries, rhubarb, strawberries, raspberries, or crab apples.  The beautiful thing is you can pick whichever three or more you have on hand, in whatever amounts you like, and still call it bumbleberry.

For generations, farm wives have loved making bumbleberry pies and crisps to clean our their freezers of leftover frozen fruit or use up an overabundance of summer fruit.

Whatever your situation, you’re sure to love this easy summer dessert recipe.

A crisp of any kind is only of the easiest summer desserts you can possibly make.  Once you’ve got the basics down, you can easily improvise with your own favourite fruit combinations and make something wonderful.

My recipe is rather large, filling a 9 x 13 pan.  If you have any leftovers (which you probably won’t) you can always serve a few small spoonfuls with plain yogurt for a reasonably healthy breakfast.

Try these summer fruit recipes:

• Saskatoon Berry Cheesecake

• Sour Cherry Pie

• No Churn Raspberry Chocolate Ice Cream

• Zucchini Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Bumbleberry Crisp with Saskatoon Berries, Rhubarb & Strawberries

Filling:

3 cups Saskatoon berries

2 cups finely sliced rubarb

2 cups sliced strawberries

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup flour

1 tbsp lemon juice

Topping:

3 cups rolled oats

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup butter

1 tbsp cinnamon

Method:

Stir all filling ingredients in a large bowl and put in a 9 x 13 casserole dish.  In another bowl, combine all ingredients until it forms small clumps.  You may prefer to use your hands for this job.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45-55 minutes, or until topping is golden brown and the filling starts to bubble through.

Note: I tend to make my crisp with a little less sugar if I’m planning on serving it with ice cream or whipped cream.  Freely adjust the sugar content in yours to your liking.

What’s your favourite summer dessert?