Brown Butter Berry Crumble

June 25, 2023

saw this video on TikTok... maybe it was Instagram. I could have sworn the title was brown butter berry crumble and I literally could not stop dreaming of it. Turns out their version was a brown sugar berry crumble which makes perfect sense, but my mind knew what it wanted. A brown butter berry crumble is a dessert that is right up my alley - crumble, crunch, oat-y, berries, fresh. Literally, it does not get any better than this. I am sitting here eating them on day two - and I will say, they've gotten even better. If you're on deck for dessert, this is calling your name to make. It's easy to whip together and is a perfect explosion of flavours for your taste buds. I also think you could bring this if you were doing a brunch/lunch situation. I am not pretending it's healthy for those morning meals, but it's the type of dessert which you could pretend it is... but seriously. There's a lot of butter and a lot of sugar - it's not. I made mine gluten-free. Does that make it healthier? Let's just get to making the dang bars.

grabbing a piece of Brown Butter Berry Crumble from a cutting board. Beautiful red berry colours and a golden brown top

Brown Butter Berry Crumble Ingredients

Original recipe via Butternut Bakery – adapted to be a brown butter version I saw in my dreams and gluten-free

Brown Butter Crumble

1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour
1 1/4 cups gluten-free quick oats
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter

Berry Filling

3/4 cup fresh blackberries, plus another 1/4 cup (1 cup total)
3/4 cup fresh raspberries, plus another 1/4 cup (1 cup total)
2 tbsp light brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp cornstarch
lemon zest from 1 lemon
lemon juice from 1 lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup blueberry jam

Brown Butter Berry Crumble cut up. Two pieces are sitting on a plate and the rest is on the cutting board with a knife

Brown Butter Berry Crumble Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Take an 8×8 pan and line it with parchment paper.

2. Brown your butter. Over low-medium heat, slowly brown your butter. Watch it closely that it doesn’t burn. First it’ll start bubbling, then getting foamy, then you’ll get this delicious nutty smell, and see the browning happening. Remove from heat before it burns and let cool.
3. In a large bowl, make your crumble. Mix gluten-free flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and brown butter until the mixture is nice and crumbly. If it’s pretty wet still, add a few more oats.

4. At the bottom of your pan, add 3/4 of the crumble mixture. Spread it evenly and pack it down. Bake for 10-minutes.
5. While your crumble is baking, make the filling: in a bowl, add 3/4 cups blackberries and 3/4 cup raspberries. Mash them up.
6. Then add your brown sugar, corn starch, lemon zest and juice, vanilla and blueberry jam. Combine well.
7. Once your crumble crust is done baking, add your filling to the middle. Top with the 1/3 (un-mushed) blackberries and 1/3 (un-mushed raspberries). Then sprinkle the rest of your crumble on top.
8. Bake for 30 minutes until the crumble is golden brown and the berry filling has thickened.
9. Let cool for 1-2 hrs before enjoying (the freezer is an acceptable way to speed that up!).
10. Enjoy!