Comfort Food

Make this recipe and enjoy! I got it from my colleague Susan, who tweaks her basic recipe a bit to create something sensational--and very fattening. (See "tweaking" instructions below). I can only justify this recipe because it contains heart-healthy blueberries. :-)

Susan’s Blueberry Crisp

Basic recipe:
3 cups fresh blueberries or 1 pkg (16 ozs) of frozen unsweetened blueberries
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (if you have to use the stuff in the green bottle, leave it out)
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup quick-cooking oats
1/3 cup butter, softened
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt


Heat oven to 375 (I like mine just a little hotter). Spray baking dish (13x8 or square works fine) with PAM. Arrange blueberries in the dish and sprinkle with lemon juice.

Mix all other ingredients together. Sprinkle on top.

Bake until topping is light brown and blueberries are hot and bubbling, about 30 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream. Also good cold from the refrigerator.

Susan’s Tweaking:
I like to mess around with the recipe, so here are my additions. I like a little more topping than the recipe calls for, and I like more oats, so I usually double the oats and add just a touch more flour. I also add ¼ cup of regular sugar and maybe a skosh more brown sugar. I also like to add a 1/3 cup of pecans; I didn’t have any the other day. Then, after I put about a third of the topping on, I punch holes in it to help it sift down into the blueberries a little. I think that flour/oat mixture helps make good juice.

And here’s the bad part: I melt a cup of butter and spread on top before cooking. If you’re going to sin, sin big I always say.