Floral Berry Crumble

Floral Berry Crumble

I like my garden super floriferous, so why wouldn’t I flower up most of my meals, especially desserts?

The flower scented sugars waiting in my pantry have been calling my name, causing me to have all sorts of thoughts.

I began yearning for a blueberry, raspberry and rose confection, and wondered why I wouldn’t toss in a bit of lavender while I’m at it.  Thus we have this:

3 cups blueberries
1 cup raspberries
1 teaspoon corn starch, aka corn flour
1 generous teaspoon rose sugar
1 generous teaspoon lavender sugar
juice of half a small organic lemon with ½ teaspoon rosewater stirred in
a few scrapes of fresh lemon zest from that organic lemon

¼ cup white flour
¼ cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup oatmeal
¼ cup sliced unblanched almonds
1 teaspoon rose sugar
1 teaspoon lavender sugar
2 teaspoons unrefined, raw cane sugar
pinch coarse salt
2 tablespoons butter plus extra for buttering dish

Butter a baking pan and preheat the oven to 350F.  Pour the berries into the buttered baking pan, and sprinkle in the corn starch.  Combine.  Sprinkle in the rose and lavender sugars and the lemon zest.  I prefer these desserts on the tart side, but you can add more sugar if you like.  Pour the lemon juice and rosewater over the berries, and stir a little to blend it all.

In a separate bowl, add the white and whole wheat flour, along with the oatmeal, almonds, and sugars.  Add the 2 tablespoons of butter, and microwave till it’s melted.  Stir it in to create the lumpy crumble.  Spoon the crumble over the berries.  I had run out of zest, but I would have liked to add a few more to the crumble top.  Sprinkle over a pinch of coarse salt, because it adds that divine bit of salty crunch, every once in a rare while.  Yum… 

These scented sugars are silly easy to make!

Bake at 350F for an hour, and you’ll know it’s done when the gorgeous fragrance grabs at you, and the syrups are boiling furiously.  It should look a little golden on top, too.  Let rest at least an hour before diving in, or you’ll scald yourself.  With a little ice-cream, this would be absolute heaven, but I can’t swear I’ll get that lucky tonight.

One small area of my floriferous garden... (taken toward the end of the season)