Let's Do Dessert: My Honest 3-Berry Crumble Recipe From My Disaster Bake (That Everyone Loved!)

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For the collaboration shoot with Clarity & Conviction recently, I made a dessert to be served in picturesque fashion for our photoshoot. I wanted something that could be made at home easily, evoke romance and ooze fashionable good looks on camera. Instead, what I pulled out of the oven looked anything but. In fact, my other half said it best, "That dessert shouldn't see the light of day." ... it really was a sad, sorry excuse of a dessert, looks-wise, but that's not to say he didn't enjoy finishing it off. He loved every bite of it. And we did use the crumble on the shoot as you'll soon see, we just strategically picked the best bits to put in the bowl and then gobbled the rest up, ha! As you can see, here's the embarrassing before and after. Below, you'll find the recipe for the HLV's Ugly-But-Delicious 3-Berry Date-Night Crumble so you can make this special and easy dessert for your love too - just tag me in your date night crumble photos so I can see what could have been if I was a better baker. Warning: serious ugliness ahead...

HLV's Ugly-But-Delicious 3 Berry Date-Night Crumble Recipe

What you'll need:

Crust (Makes top crust only, for a bottom and top crust, make double)

1 1/2 cups gluten free flour (plus some for dusting rolling surface and dough)

1/2 Tsp Kosher salt

1/2 Tbsp sugar

1/2 cup very cold unsalted butter (cut into 1/2 inch cubes) - should be 1 stick

4 Tbsp ice water

Berry

5 cups frozen berries - choose your favorite. (I had cherry, blueberry and blackberry mix)

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 Tbsp corn starch (May need a little extra depending on liquid in berries)

Egg Wash

1 Egg yolk

2 tbsp Milk

8-9 inch Baking Dish ( I used this one by Juliska from Amazon).

Method

Crust

1. In a medium bowl, add 1 cup of flour, salt and sugar. Stir to combine.

2. Place butter pieces over flour mix and use fork to coat butter with flour.

3. Use hands to crumble the butter into the flour mix until it resembles fresh bread crumbs.

4. Add remaining flour and keep working with hands until flour mix looks crumbly with pea-sized pieces.

5. Slowly sprinkle ice water over mix - add and mix with hands very slowly. Too much and it will make the dough dense. The crumbs should start to form larger dough balls and hold together. To test, pinch some mix together, if it holds, it's ready. If the dough falls apart, add a little more ice water. (Note: It's fine to have bumps of unmixed butter in dough, that will help create the flakes later).

6. Place dough on clean surface and work until dough forms a ball. Do not overwork. Push down into a disk, cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for over 1 hour. (You can also freeze for a few months).

7. Now is the perfect time to make your Berry Filling. Once the berry filling has cooled, you can get onto this next step.

8. Take dough out of refrigerator and let thaw for 5 minutes.

9. Lightly flour surface and roll out dough. (I like to measure out the shape and dimensions of my baking dish here so that I can roll it out to the perfect dimensions).

10. Now's your chance to get creative! Either layer over the top and crimp the edges, leaving a few slits to let steam out. OR, cut into strips to make a thatch look. You can braid, cut out shapes and stars, like I did/tried. You can also use these shapes to hide all your imperfections like I did, although, there weren't enough stars in the world to hide my flaws, haha!

11. Using a silicon brush, brush the Egg Wash over the crust.

12. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. while you put pie into fridge to set for 20 mins.

13. Bake for 40 mins or until crust looks golden and crispy. Remove from oven and allow to cool on rack.

Berry Filling

1. Place frozen berries into medium saucepan and place over heat. After the berries lose considerable juice (may take a few mins), add the sugar and corn starch and continue to stir over heat until mixture begins to thicken. Note: If filling is too thick, add a little water.

2. Add mixture to favorite bake dish (Around 8 inch to 9 inch will work) and allow to cool.

3. Now head back to step 8 of Crust instructions.

Eat this dish a la Mode with your favorite vanilla ice-cream and Ta-Da!!! - a scrumptious and easy dessert that you can make for date night dinner or cuddling on the couch with one another. Enjoy!

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