blumble

blumble, a cousin of plumble, is a crumble made with blackberries picked by me and tim in the neighborhood. blackberries grow like crazy in oregon, and you're likely to find a bush or two, or in some cases an entire wall full of ripening fruit. you can eat them right off the bush, throw them into exciting sweet or savory treats, or make blackberry wine...

i've decided to continue a tradition i hadn't known i'd started and make crumbles with any fruit that i've picked (at least the first time around... the bushes are still yielding tons of fruit). and so blumble was born, but unlike plumble, blumble has a more mild tartness, a much thicker crumb crust, and it's vegan (for poppy and corrie).

base layer:

5 1/2 cups blackberries

juice of half a lime

1/4 cup of sugar

1/4 cup honey

1 tsp lavender buds (dried or fresh)

1 tablespoon cornstarch, dissolved in a little bit of cold water

crumbly part:

1 cup almond meal

1 1/2 cups unbleached flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 cups old fashioned oats

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup of very cold earth balance (or butter if you don't want to make it vegan), cut into small pieces

preheat oven to 350 F.

for the berry base: 

in a medium saucepan over medium to medium-high heat, combine the blackberries, sugar, honey, and lime juice. stir occasionally until the sugar has dissolved. add the lavender buds and the dissolved cornstarch and stir for about 5 minutes, until the mixture resembles a thick soup (if the mixture appears too watery, continue to cook and stir, and if that doesn't work, add more dissolved cornstarch). pour the mixture in an even layer onto the bottom of a baking dish. i recommend a 9x13 sized dish, but using a smaller dish will allow for a thicker crumble, and a larger dish will result in a thinner one. 

for the crust: 

in a large bowl, combine (using either a pastry cutter or your hands) almond meal, flour, sugars, oats, maple syrup, salt, cinnamon, and earth balance until the mixture resembles coarse crumbles. cover and place in a freezer for 5-10 minutes. when cooled, sprinkle the crumbles over the blackberry base and bake for 35-40 minutes. serve warm and enjoy! 

it's drippy stuff : )