Blackberry Rhubarb Crumble

updated Aug 21, 2023

Serves8 to 12

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Summer fruit calls for summer cobblers and crumbles, and I’m no procrastinator when it comes to such things. This crumble is the best one I’ve cooked up so far this summer — it’s a thick, jammy pan of tangy rhubarb and blackberries, topped with a brown sugar cobbler-crumble, thick and chewy, like the best cross of a cookie and a biscuit. But I can’t take any credit at all; with summer fruit like this, how can you go wrong?

My husband doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, but put a fruity cobbler in front of him and his eyes light up. He’ll eat a crumble like this for breakfast, too, so double motivation for me to cook up crumbles and cobblers all summer long.

Credit: Faith Durand

Making Recipe Adjustments

The tanginess of rhubarb and blackberries inspired me here, but so did my favorite crumble topping: The decadent, butter-drenched plum crumble from Orangette, a recipe adapted from Marion Burros and Luisa Weiss. Plums topped with a cookie-like crumble, then nearly a full stick (be still my heart!) of melted butter.

• See the original recipe: Plum Crumble at Orangette

I was certainly inspired by that recipe, and I work from it here, but I do tone it down just a bit. I’m not opposed to that full stick of butter, see, but I save it for special times. I wanted a cobbler well-suited for breakfast, and so even though I doubled the size of the original topping recipe, I left the butter quantity the same, cutting it effectively in half for each portion.

I also increased the proportion of eggs to flour, making this a soft, more biscuit-y topping. It tastes like brown sugar and vanilla, and adds a little more sweetness to the savory walnuts above and the not-very-sweet fruit below.

Credit: Apartment Therapy

And yes, let’s talk about that fruit again for a moment. I love the taste of rhubarb and hate when it’s covered up by sugar. Here it stands proudly tangy and not too sweet; this is a cobbler designed to go with whipped cream or ice cream; they pair beautifully together.

Comments

Serves 8 to 12

Nutritional Info

Ingredients

For the fruit:

18 ounces
fresh blackberries, washed and picked over
1 1/2 pounds
fresh rhubarb, rinsed and cut into 1/4-inch thick half moons
1/2 cup
dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon
ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon
ground ginger
Pinch salt

For the crumble topping:

1 1/2 cups
flour
1 teaspoon
baking powder
1/4 teaspoon
salt
3/4 cup
dark brown sugar
2
large eggs
1 teaspoon
vanilla extract
1/2 cup
walnuts, chopped
8 tablespoons
unsalted butter (1 stick), melted

Instructions

Heat the oven to 375°F and lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with baking spray.
Toss the blackberries and rhubarb together gently with the brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. Spread in the prepared baking dish.
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder and salt. Whisk in the brown sugar, breaking up any large clumps. In a small separate bowl, whisk the eggs with the vanilla. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and use your hands to mix the eggs into the flour. Squeeze and pinch the mixture together; it will be clumpy, with a loose scree of crumbs at the bottom of the bowl.
Drop the larger, wetter clumps of dough over the fruit. Shake the drier crumbs over top, distributing the douhg evenly over the fruit. Sprinkle the top with the chopped walnuts, then pour the melted butter over everything.
Bake for 35 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the crumble is baked through. Let sit for about 30 minutes before eating.