Tasty Tuesday - Berry Cherry Crisp

I've talked a lot about how Mister Man helps me with cooking and baking, but it isn't just him. Little Miss is another one who's in the kitchen a lot and loves helping me out, too. I recently had a potluck to attend, and Little Miss had the honor of choosing the dessert I was assigned to bring.

Our challenge is that she wanted to make something that she'd be able to eat, too, so it had to be something I could make dairy free. She first started looking at recipes in our cook book that were things like a chocolate buttermilk cake or a mousse or something that I am just not experienced or talented enough to create dairy free. We sat down and talked about what she likes and what she wanted to do, and we finally came up with a perfect recipe.

The coolest part of all? She made it All. By. Herself. How awesome is that? I put it into and removed it from the oven, but she did the measuring and mixing and pouring all by herself. And ohhh was she proud!

I love how easy this is, and while the mayonnaise idea sort of freaked me out a bit at first (I'd heard of using mayo in place of butter in certain recipes but this was the first time I'd done it), it actually made it like a sour cream blueberry flavor, and it was awesome. This is an absolute keeper, and we're making it again soon.

Go baby girl!

(Note that I made an individual serving of this in a ramekin for Little Miss to eat in addition to the whole pan. You can choose to make them all individual servings in ramekins if you prefer, a fun way to do it if you're entertaining.)

Berry Cherry Crisp

Ingredients:
4 c blueberries
1 c cherries (I used both frozen and dried)
1/4 c corn starch
1 c flour
3/4 c oats
3/4 c brown sugar
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
1/2 c mayonnaise

Directions:

Place your berries into an eight inch baking dish. Use corn starch and 1/2 t of nutmeg to coat the berries, stirring them gently to coat. If you're using fresh berries, you won't need to use the corn starch or you can use less of it. The frozen berries really excrete a lot of juice though!

When I use nutmeg - and I use it a lot! - I use whole nutmeg and grate it myself with my zester. It has a stronger and better taste - it's just fresher. That and the whole nutmeg is both cheaper and lasts longer. Ground spices start to deteriorate and lose their flavor after about six months. You can keep the whole nutmeg way longer than that. I buy mine at a bulk food store, which cuts the cost down even further.

To make the toppings, simply put all the dry ingredients into another bowl. Note that I've adjusted the recipe slightly since I made this the first time, so the picture doesn't have everything quite the same. Once they're in the bowl, mix them up so that they're well combined and it's a uniform color and texture.

Once the dry streusel ingredients are well mixed, add the mayonnaise. You can simply use your spatula to mix it together until the streusel makes nice little clumps. You don't want it smooth or completely flat, so don't mix it too much.

From there, simply pour the streusel topping over the berries. You don't want to press it down into the crisp, but you do need to smooth it a bit so that it's evenly spread across the berries.

Bake the crisp in a 350 degree oven for 50 minutes (closer to 40 if you're using fresh berries) until the topping is golden brown and the juices are starting to bubble around the streusel. Let it fully cool before you eat it, and serve rewarmed or at room temperature.

Enjoy this and more with Blessed With Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday. Also posting now with A Southern Fairytale and her Mouthwatering Monday.

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