Perfectly sweet and lightly lemony, this bubbling berry crisp is ideal for all of your summer entertaining needs. With a scoop of vanilla ice cream melting into every bite, it’s always a crowd pleaser!
Several months ago I watched Dorie Greenspan make madeleines on the Martha Stewart Show. While the madeleines looked divine, what struck me most from her demonstration was her handling of the lemon zest. Rather than whisk the zest directly into the dry ingredients, she placed it in a small bowl with the sugar and massaged the two ingredients together with her fingertips until she had created a moist and fragrant citrus sugar, a technique, she says, that serves to release oils from the zest into the sugar, making the lemon flavor twice as pronounced.
I still haven’t made the madeleines, but, when I remember to, I employ this citrus-sugar technique when appropriate when I’m baking. While it’s not critical — freshly grated zest, massaged into sugar or not, always adds a nice flavor — I have found that the technique does heighten the citrus flavor, which is especially nice in cakes and muffins and cobblers . Moreover, making the citrus sugar is kind of fun. Try it. It smells so good! And it makes just about the best fresh squeezed lemonade you could ever imagine.
The most recent dish I’ve given the citrus-sugar treatment to is my mother’s blueberry crisp, one of my favorites. Like most crisps, this one takes no time to prepare, and if you have a food processor, the topping — a mixture of flour, sugar, almonds and butter — comes together in seconds. The absence of oats and brown sugar in this crisp topping makes it particularly light and allows the lemon-sugared blueberries to really shine.
Lemon-Blueberry Crisp, Step by Step
To prepare the berries, place 6 cups of blueberries in a 10- to 11-inch gratin dish or a 9×13-inch baking pan and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch:
Toss to coat the berries in the starch:
For the crisp portion of this recipe, you’ll need flour, almond flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, and, not pictured, a stick of butter and a lemon:
Measure out the dry ingredients…
Then zest in a full lemon:
Transfer the dry ingredients to a food processor:
Whirl until blended…
… then add 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) of cold, cubed butter:
Blend until a dough forms:
Then crumble it over the blueberries…
Bake until bubbling and golden brown:
Then spoon the warm crisp into dishes and top with ice cream:
Description
This lemon-blueberry crisp takes no time to prepare, and if you have a food processor, the topping comes together in seconds. The absence of oats in this crisp topping makes it particularly light and allows the lemony-almond flavor to shine.
Notes:
- This post was very recently updated: May 23, 2025. If you are looking for the old version, find it here .
- Baking vessel: I previously made this in a 9×13-inch baking dish, which works beautifully. Recently I’ve been making it in this 10.5-inch tart pan.
For the berries:
- 6 cups ( 850 g ) blueberries, washed and stemmed
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
For the topping:
- 3/4 cup ( 96 g ) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup ( 100 g ) sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup ( 56 g ) almond flour
- 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup ( 113 g ) cold, unsalted butter cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- vanilla ice cream for serving
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Place the blueberries in a 10- to 11-inch gratin dish or a 9×13-inch baking pan. Toss the berries with the 1 tablespoon of cornstarch until they are evenly coated.
- Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, almond flour, and salt in a food processor. Zest the lemon into the processor. Purée until the dry ingredients are combined. Add the butter and purée again just until the mixture begins to clump — it will be mostly smooth. Crumble the topping over the blueberries. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the crisp topping is browned and the blueberries are bubbling. Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes before serving with vanilla ice cream.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Perfectly sweet and lightly lemony, this bubbling berry crisp is ideal for all of your summer entertaining needs. With a scoop of vanilla ice cream melting into every bite, it’s always a crowd pleaser!
Several months ago I watched Dorie Greenspan make madeleines on the Martha Stewart Show. While the madeleines looked divine, what struck me most from her demonstration was her handling of the lemon zest. Rather than whisk the zest directly into the dry ingredients, she placed it in a small bowl with the sugar and massaged the two ingredients together with her fingertips until she had created a moist and fragrant citrus sugar, a technique, she says, that serves to release oils from the zest into the sugar, making the lemon flavor twice as pronounced.
I still haven’t made the madeleines, but, when I remember to, I employ this citrus-sugar technique when appropriate when I’m baking. While it’s not critical — freshly grated zest, massaged into sugar or not, always adds a nice flavor — I have found that the technique does heighten the citrus flavor, which is especially nice in cakes and muffins and cobblers . Moreover, making the citrus sugar is kind of fun. Try it. It smells so good! And it makes just about the best fresh squeezed lemonade you could ever imagine.
The most recent dish I’ve given the citrus-sugar treatment to is my mother’s blueberry crisp, one of my favorites. Like most crisps, this one takes no time to prepare, and if you have a food processor, the topping — a mixture of flour, sugar, almonds and butter — comes together in seconds. The absence of oats and brown sugar in this crisp topping makes it particularly light and allows the lemon-sugared blueberries to really shine.
Lemon-Blueberry Crisp, Step by Step
To prepare the berries, place 6 cups of blueberries in a 10- to 11-inch gratin dish or a 9×13-inch baking pan and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch:
Toss to coat the berries in the starch:
For the crisp portion of this recipe, you’ll need flour, almond flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, and, not pictured, a stick of butter and a lemon:
Measure out the dry ingredients…
Then zest in a full lemon:
Transfer the dry ingredients to a food processor:
Whirl until blended…
… then add 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) of cold, cubed butter:
Blend until a dough forms:
Then crumble it over the blueberries…
Bake until bubbling and golden brown:
Then spoon the warm crisp into dishes and top with ice cream:
Description
This lemon-blueberry crisp takes no time to prepare, and if you have a food processor, the topping comes together in seconds. The absence of oats in this crisp topping makes it particularly light and allows the lemony-almond flavor to shine.
Notes:
- This post was very recently updated: May 23, 2025. If you are looking for the old version, find it here .
- Baking vessel: I previously made this in a 9×13-inch baking dish, which works beautifully. Recently I’ve been making it in this 10.5-inch tart pan.
For the berries:
- 6 cups ( 850 g ) blueberries, washed and stemmed
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
For the topping:
- 3/4 cup ( 96 g ) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup ( 100 g ) sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup ( 56 g ) almond flour
- 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup ( 113 g ) cold, unsalted butter cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- vanilla ice cream for serving
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Place the blueberries in a 10- to 11-inch gratin dish or a 9×13-inch baking pan. Toss the berries with the 1 tablespoon of cornstarch until they are evenly coated.
- Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, almond flour, and salt in a food processor. Zest the lemon into the processor. Purée until the dry ingredients are combined. Add the butter and purée again just until the mixture begins to clump — it will be mostly smooth. Crumble the topping over the blueberries. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the crisp topping is browned and the blueberries are bubbling. Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes before serving with vanilla ice cream.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This lemon-blueberry crisp takes no time to prepare, and if you have a food processor, the topping comes together in seconds. The absence of oats in this crisp topping makes it particularly light and allows the lemony-almond flavor to shine.
Notes:
- This post was very recently updated: May 23, 2025. If you are looking for the old version, find it here .
- Baking vessel: I previously made this in a 9×13-inch baking dish, which works beautifully. Recently I’ve been making it in this 10.5-inch tart pan.
For the berries:
- 6 cups ( 850 g ) blueberries, washed and stemmed
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
For the topping:
- 3/4 cup ( 96 g ) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup ( 100 g ) sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup ( 56 g ) almond flour
- 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup ( 113 g ) cold, unsalted butter cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- vanilla ice cream for serving
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Place the blueberries in a 10- to 11-inch gratin dish or a 9×13-inch baking pan. Toss the berries with the 1 tablespoon of cornstarch until they are evenly coated.
- Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, almond flour, and salt in a food processor. Zest the lemon into the processor. Purée until the dry ingredients are combined. Add the butter and purée again just until the mixture begins to clump — it will be mostly smooth. Crumble the topping over the blueberries. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the crisp topping is browned and the blueberries are bubbling. Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes before serving with vanilla ice cream.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Find it online : https://alexandracooks.com/2012/07/01/lemon-blueberry-crisp/
With lobster rolls on my brain for weeks, it was high time to brush up on my homemade mayonnaise making. I took my mother’s advice and made Mark Bittman’s food processor mayonnaise , which, as my mother promised, was both delicious and foolproof thanks to a teeny hole in the food-pusher insert (see photo below). From start to finish (including cleanup), the whole process took five minutes, the mayonnaise itself coming together in less than one minute once the blades started spinning.
In preparation for the lobster rolls, I threw in some tarragon at the end, an ingredient I’ve always associated with a good lobster roll — a good lobster roll made at home I should say. It has been too many years to say for sure, but I don’t recall any tarragon present in the $3 lobster rolls my mother and I inhaled three times a day for a week straight at the various roadside stands dotting the Maine coastline during one summer road trip. Those were the best lobster rolls I’ve ever tasted, ones I’ve never even tried to replicate at home.
At home I make lobster rolls just as my mother does with nothing more than homemade mayonnaise, fresh tarragon and a squeeze of lemon. They are so simple — with the exception of the whole killing/boiling/cracking of the lobsters process — and so delicious. It never feels like summer till I’ve had my first lobster roll, at a roadside stand or not, and these, despite arriving just days before the Fourth, were no exception. Happy Fourth Everyone!
“It’s not a pleasant experience, but when you eat lobster and when you eat any kind of animal, that animal has been alive and it’s very important to be aware that we are taking that life away and that we are going to eat it, and if we do a good job, we are actually paying homage to the lives that we sacrifice.”
I’ll be honest, it wasn’t a pleasant experience, and I had the jitters before, during and after the process (they seemed to linger all afternoon in fact), but it was worth it.
Finally, Seafood Watch’s Ocean Friendly Seafood App lists wild-caught lobster from California or Florida as the “Best Choice” and trap-caught lobster from the Northeastern U.S. and Canada as a “Good Alternative.” Wild-caught lobster from Brazil is on the SW’s “Avoid” list.
See this teeny hole? It’s this hole that allows the oil to enter the food processor in a slow steady stream, allowing the mixture to emulsify perfectly into mayonnaise.
You all know how to cut a lemon , right? I mean the pretty way? Not sure? Check this out . It’s not necessary to cut lemons this way but it makes for a nice presentation.
- 3 lobsters, about 1 lb to 1.25 lbs each
- kosher salt
- homemade tarragon mayonnaise (recipe below)
- fresh squeezed lemon juice, to taste
- additional lemon for serving
- hotdog buns
- Bring a very large pot of water to a boil. (Since I do not own a lobster pot, I used my two largest stock pots.) Kill lobsters, as described above (if desired), then plunge into boiling water. Boil for 10 to 11 minutes. Remove lobsters from pots, let cool briefly, then start cracking. Remove meat from lobster, chop coarsely and place in a large bowl.
- Spread the lobster meat out in the bowl into a single layer. Season with kosher salt. Add tarragon mayonnaise to taste. To give you an idea, my three lobsters yielded 13.5 oz of meat, and I used a quarter cup of the homemade tarragon mayonnaise. Add lemon juice — I used about half a lemon — to taste. Gently mix the ingredients with a spatula. Taste. Adjust seasoning as necessary.
- Toast hotdog buns, if desired. (My buns had been baked that day, so I did not toast them.) Spoon lobster meat into buns. Serve with additional wedges of lemon on the side.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 11 minutes
Description
1 egg yolk or whole egg (I used a yolk)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice or sherry or white wine vinegar (I used white balsamic vinegar)
1 cup neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn, or extra virgin olive oil, or a combination (I used extra-virgin because it was all I had)
fresh tarragon (optional) — I threw in a whole bunch (5 to 6 tablespoons maybe?)
Put the yolk or egg, mustard, salt, pepper and lemon juice or vinegar in the container of a food processor and turn the machine on. While it’s running, add the oil in a slow, steady stream. (Your food processor should have a teeny hole in the food pusher insert in the top). When an emulsion forms you can add it a little faster. (Again, the little hole makes this unnecessary.) Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Add the fresh tarragon (if desired) and pulse until chopped.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
