Berry-Rhubarb and Sage Crisp

link to original recipe

Made June 4, 2025

Note: I've made Stella's recipe a couple of times, once as written with strawberries and once with mostly as written but with 290g rhubarb, 260g apple, and 920g cherries. This is the most I've ever deviated from it, with swapping herbs for spices.

Ingredients:

For the Topping:

⅔ cup (140g) Light Brown Sugar

¾ cup (105g) Whole Wheat Flour

1⅓ cups (115g) Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats

1½ teaspoons ground Sage

¼ teaspoon ground Cinnamon

¼ teaspoon Kosher Salt

10 tablespoons (140g) Butter

For the Filling:

600g Rhubarb

1½ cups (300g) Sugar

⅔ cup (75g) tapioca flour

¼ cup (55g) Elderflower Liqueur, or Water

¾ teaspoon Kosher Salt

730g mix Blueberries and Aronia Berries (Chokeberries)

¼ cup fresh Sage, finely chopped

¼ teaspoon Baking Soda

Directions:

For the Topping

Combine brown sugar, whole wheat flour, rolled oats, sage, cinnamon, salt, and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed to form a thick dough, about 5 minutes. Alternatively, this can be done by hand. Transfer to a zip-top bag and refrigerate until needed, up to 1 month.

For the Filling

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat to 400°F (200°C). In the same bowl from the stand mixer (no need to wash), combine the rhubarb sugar, tapioca flour, elderflower liqueur, and salt. Toss with a flexible spatula and transfer to a 9x13-inch baking dish, sprinkling any remaining sugar/starch on top. Cover with foil, place on a foil- or parchment-lined half-sheet pan, and bake until rhubarb is wilted and juicy, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, transfer berries and sage to the same bowl.

Remove baking dish from oven, discard foil, and sprinkle in the baking soda. Stir carefully with a heat-resistant spatula until juices begin to fizz. Add berries and sage to the dish and fold to combine. Top with handfuls of prepared streusel, flattening each addition into a thin sheet to achieve even coverage. Continue baking until crisp is bubbling in the very center, about 35 minutes more. (The time will vary dramatically depending on the exact dimensions and material of your baking dish.)

Cool at least 30 minutes before serving, as the filling will be dangerously hot and extremely runny at first. The crisp will thicken as it cools to room temperature. Wrapped in foil, the crisp will keep 3 days at room temperature.

Final Notes:

Sage seems like a really nice addition, but would prefer to just use blueberries and exclude the aronia berries. Aronia's have a weird texture, but I've had a bag of them in my freezer for years, and I wanted to get rid of them.

Blueberry, aronia berries (aka chokeberries), and sage crisp