Cranberry-Blueberry Crumble

On Friday evening, I fixed our first crumble of the season - a bit belatedly perhaps, but Zach isn't a huge fan of crumbles so I have to find rather creative fruit combination to tempt him into viewing this summery dessert tradition with enthusiasm. Zach doesn't like peaches, the most classic crumble for Georgia summers, and he's not fond of cooked apples, either, ruling out apple crumbles in the Fall. One might think I would just let crumbles fade into the sunset of our culinary repertoire, but the fact that they contain fruit, and therefore seem inherently at least somewhat healthy from the very start, leads me to persevere with The Crumble Issue. After all, if a long-standing discussion about fruit crumbles is the most complicated issue with which Zach and I have to wrestle during our relationship, we are truly fortunate indeed!

(Zach and Ruby, both looking endearing... :-)

Cranberries are one of Zach's favorite fruits (along with perfectly ripe bananas - brown and spotty, but not too brown and spotty), so I decided upon a cranberry crumble, combined with blueberries to make the whole ensemble seem a bit more summery. The simplest, most classic of crumbles, with a light oat-streusel topping and the speedy addition of that brilliant Southern invention, self-rising flour, this treat nearly swept itself into the oven in a matter of minutes, allowing us to return to a contented stormy evening of veggie-burger sampling and movie-watching while the kitchen filled with the delightful scent of bubbling berries and toasting oatmeal and brown sugar...

Zach has another medical board exam on Monday (it seems as though it was just a moment ago when he was taking his "Step 1" exam, at the end of his 2nd year of medical school, and now he's taking his 4th year exams already!), so we're having a relatively quite weekend, during which Zach has been studying, with appropriate study breaks as mentioned above, and I've been baking and dranking coffee, two activities which, when conducted in the company of my dearest love, leave me perfectly content. It's amazing how depriving oneself of caffeine during the week (as insistently dictated by my migraines) makes a cup of coffee seem the most delightful luxury imaginable... Especially when savored in good company, with a serving of summer fruit crumble alongside...

Cranberry-Blueberry Crumble

1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
Raw turbinado sugar to taste
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup self-rising flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup raw turbinado sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
4 T light nonhydrogenated vegan margarine (such as SmartBalance Light), melted

~ Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Coat a 5 quart round casserole dish with cooking spray.
~ Toss together the dried cranberries, fresh or frozen cranberries and blueberries, along with sugar to taste, until the desired sweetness is achieved. Some sweetness will come from the blueberries and dried cranberries, but the unsweetened fresh cranberries will still be quite tart. I like my cranberry baked goods fairly tart, and thus decided leaving the sugar "to taste" would be best, especially since some blueberries are sweeter than others.
~ Pour the fruit mixture into the casserole dish.
~ Stir together the whole wheat flour, self-rising flour, oatmeal, turbinado sugar, and cinnamon. Stir in the melted vegan marg until you have a crumbly mixture.
~ Sprinkle the streusel topping across the fruit mixture.
~ Bake, uncovered, for 30 min - until the topping is golden brown. Serve warm...