Strawberry Crisp 🍓🍓🍓
with Oat-Almond Crumb Topping
I first spied the sign, adorned with a giant-sized hand painted strawberry, about a month ago. It would take a few tries before I was finally able to purchase them since the stand is cash only, and works on the honor system. Exact change is required to feed the lock box, and while I always have cash on me, I was always off by a dollar or two.
Now I make sure to have plenty of singles so I can stock up on strawberries when passing Davenport's farmstand on Hurley Mountain Road for as long as the season lasts. Some of my favorite recipes for using up strawberries are in the archives here. There's strawberry maple jam, strawberry violet popsicles, chocolate strawberry swiss roll, and 15 more recipes in my Strawberry Ebook.
This strawberry crisp has earned a spot in my permanent recipe collection—I’ve made it three times in the last two weeks. Usually crisp is featured as dessert on menus but I want to challenge that notion. It’s become a part of my breakfast routine, used as a topping on plain Greek yogurt.
There’s lots of ways you can put your own spin on this recipe. I like the way a tiny splash of almond extract accentuates the strawberries’ flavor. Leave it out if you wish, or add some lemon zest. Fresh herbs would work nicely here, too. You can add some to the filling or the topping. Basil, lemon thyme and tarragon would all be nice.
Taste your berries before adding the sugar—depending on their sweetness, you may want to add less. In that case, you might need to add a little more cornstarch to help thicken the filling once the berries cook down. I generally like a thick, jammy filling for my crisp. If you prefer a juicier, runnier filling as in the image above, you can use less cornstarch.
Substitutes for the granulated sugar that could work are maple sugar, date sugar, or even maple syrup. These all have strong flavors, and are sweeter than regular sugar, so I wouldn’t say they’re necessarily 1:1 swaps. If you regularly cook with these sweeteners, you’ll likely know how to adjust the recipe to your liking.
For a dairy-free option on the crumb topping, you can try vegan butter or coconut oil (in solid form) in place of the butter. My advice when it comes to tweaking a recipe if you’re not a veteran cook, is try it once the way it’s written, and then play with it from there. Sometimes dietary needs mean you have to leap right into adaptations, so if you have any questions, leave a comment below and I’ll try to help as best I can.
Enjoy strawberry season, and happy first day of summer! —xo, j.
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