These mini blueberry crisps are the perfect after-dinner dessert or late night snack. They can be easily thrown together using basic kitchen ingredients, all in under an hour. These are made with blueberries, but they can essentially be made with any fruit you happen to have lying on the counter, or hiding in the back of the freezer.
What’s the difference between crisps, crumbles, and cobbler?
First off, crisps differ from crumbles and cobblers for one main reason – they contain oats. Oats really add a nice layer of crisp to the top, hence the name “crisp”. Cobblers differ from both crisps and crumbles as they’re usually a bit thicker due to the addition of egg and baking powder. Lastly, crumbles, which are practically identical to crisps (minus the oats) tend to take on more of a streusel-like consistency. Either way, there are so many different variations of these versatile and delicious fruit desserts. There’s not really a wrong way to make them. If you’re not a fan of blueberries, you may like my recipe for Mini Strawberry Crumbles!
Ingredients
For the Fruit (blueberries)
- blueberries
- sugar
- all purpose flour
- lemon juice
- vanilla paste
For the Crisp
- all purpose flour
- old-fashioned oats
- brown sugar
- cinnamon
- salt
- butter
How to Make a Crisp
Start by preheating your oven to 375°F and take out your fruit of choice. For this recipe, I am using fresh blueberries, but there are so many great fruits that will also work for this. You can use frozen blueberries, by the way. There’s no need to defrost them, since they’re going to be cooking for around 35-40 minutes in the oven. That should give them plenty of time to bake properly.
Add 3 cups of blueberries to a medium sized bowl and add 3 tbsp of granulated sugar, 1 tbsp of all purpose flour, 1/2 tbsp lemon juice, and 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract. Mix until all the blueberries are evenly coated. They should start to look somewhat gooey at this point. Set the blueberries aside for now.
Next, we’ll make the crisp topping. In a large bowl combine 1 cup of all purpose flour, 3/4 cup old-fashioned oats, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and a 1/4 tsp salt. Pull out one stick (1/2 cup) of chilled butter. You can proceed with the next step in one of two ways. My preference is to use a cheese grater, and grate the butter directly into the bowl. If you don’t own a cheese grater, you can just chop the butter into small cubes and add them to the bowl.
Putting it all together
Once the butter has been added, go in hands first and start to toss and mix. You’ll need to work the butter into little balls that are going to be coated with the dry ingredients. Once the crisp topping has been mixed, add the blueberries to your ramekins or cocottes, then add the crisp topping. I am in love with Le Creuset’s 8 oz cocottes. I use them for creme brûlée, crumbles, lava cakes, ice cream, you name it. Here is what it should look like prior to baking:
Bake at 375°F for 35-40 minutes or until the tops turn a nice, crispy golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving. My topping of choice is vanilla ice cream but you do you! Hope you enjoy 🙂
Mini Blueberry Crisps
These mini blueberry crisps are a thing of beauty. They're delicious, easy to make, and they only use ingredients you probably already have lying around the kitchen!
For the Fruit
- 3 cups fresh blueberries
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp all purpose flour
- ½ tbsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp vanilla paste
- ½ tsp honey
For the Crisp topping
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ¾ cup old-fashioned oats
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup butter (chilled)
Preheat oven to 375°F.
For the Fruit
Add 3 cups blueberries, 3 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp flour, 1/2 tsp vanilla paste, and 1/2 tsp honey to a medium size bowl and toss to combine. Set aside.
For the Crisp topping
In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, 3/4 cup old-fashioned oats, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp salt. Mix to combine. Then grate in 1/2 cup of chilled butter. Toss to combine until small pea to marble size balls of butter develop.
Add fruit to cocottes, then add crisp topping. Bake at 375°F for 35-40 minutes until tops turn a crisp, golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.
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