We had a lovely day picking olallieberries at Swanton Farms yesterday. They just opened their second patch, and the berries will be good for at least another two weeks.

Here’s what  Peanut and I did with half of the seven pounds we picked.  Crisps have no crust so it is much easier to let a toddler handle the whole recipe. Feel free to use blackberries or raspberries instead, though cut the sugar a bit.

Olallieberry Cardamom Crisp Recipe

Filling:
* 4 cups olallieberries, cleaned and stemmed
* 1/2 cup organic brown sugar
* 3 Tbl whole wheat flour
* 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Crisp Topping
* 6 Tbl unsalted butter, cut into half-Tbl chunks
* 3/4 cups organic maple flakes (or brown sugar)
* 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
* 1/2 cup organic steel cut oats
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1 tsp ground cinnamon
* 1/4 tsp ground cardamom

Post-baking Topping
* 6 Tbl ground flaxseed meal
* 4 Tbl maple flakes (or use brown sugar)

Adult: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Everyone: Wash and dry hands. Smear stick of butter into an 8×8 or 2+quart baking dish. Use paper towel to smoosh butter into every corner and along sides. Make the Topping by putting ingredients into bowl and smooshing with hands until it’s just crumbs. Set aside. In another bowl toss the filling ingredients as gently as you can. Pour the berry mixture to the buttered baking dish and sprinkle with the crisp topping.
Adult: Place the baking dish on a baking sheet in oven (to catch any juices that might spill during cooking) and bake until the top is well browned and the berries are tender when pierced with a knife, about 45 minutes.

Cool for 5 minutes and sprinkle the flaxseed meal and maple flakes on top. (Cooking flaxseed ruins most of its health benefits, and sprinkling it on makes the topping too uniform.)

Serve plain or topped with plain yogurt, frozen yogurt, non-dairy frozen stuff, freshly milked and skimmed cream (best, hands down), or ice cream.