Baseball, Hot Dogs and…Blueberry Crumble

This Blueberry Crumble is simple: juicy and fruity and buttery all at once, but short on ingredients, and short on effort.

You don’t get more American than baseball, hot dogs and apple pie. 

But I’ve always been a little bit confused about why we eat apple pie on the Fourth of July. I thought apples were a fall fruit. We eat apple pie on Thanksgiving. Those cinnamony-nutmegy smells coming from the kitchen make me think I should be able to walk outside into crisp fall air. Not the case on the Fourth.

I think a Blueberry Crumble is going to sub in for the apple pie this summer. Blueberries are in season, and we have a ton of them hanging around in the fridge. They need little in the way of added sweetening. And hey, they’re blue, as in red, white and blue.

This Blueberry Crumble is simple: juicy and fruity and buttery all at once, but short on ingredients, and short on effort. The most taxing part is cutting the butter into the flour, but that’s easy work when you use a pastry cutter. If you don’t have a pastry cutter, and two knives prove too much work, just quickly crumble the butter into the flour with your fingers, stopping before the butter entirely disappears. 

I don’t think anyone will miss the apple pie. 

Editor’s note: For more Fourth of July recipe inspiration, see this red, white and blue Berry Fool.  

Blueberry Crumble

Ingredients: 

2 pints blueberries (4 ¼ cups)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon flour
Juice of 1 lemon
½ tablespoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 egg, beaten
½ cup cold butter (1 stick), cut into ½-inch cubes

Recipe directions: 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9-by-13 baking dish lightly with cooking spray.

Put the blueberries in a bowl and mix them gently (best with your hands) with 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon flour. Sprinkle the lemon juice over them and gently toss again. 

Mix the remaining ½ cup of sugar, 2 cups flour, lemon zest, baking powder and salt. Stir in the egg with a fork, and then cut the butter into the flour with two knives or a pastry cutter until the mixture looks crumbly, and there are still pea-sized clumps of butter visible.

Put the blueberries in the baking dish. Crumble the dough over the blueberries, and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the blueberries bubble up and the top starts to brown. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.