Blackberry Crisp With Cardamom Custard Sauce
- Total Time
- 1 hour 20 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:6 servings
- 1cup/128 grams all-purpose flour
- ½cup/100 grams granulated sugar
- ½cup/113 grams salted butter, cold and thinly sliced
- Pinch of ground cardamom
- 6cups/850 grams blackberries
- ½cup/100 grams granulated sugar
- 2cups/480 grams half-and-half
- ½cup/100 grams granulated sugar
- 1tablespoon cardamom seeds, or 6 green cardamom pods, smashed
- 4egg yolks
For the Topping
For the Crisp
For the Sauce
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
604 calories; 28 grams fat; 16 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 8 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 84 grams carbohydrates; 8 grams dietary fiber; 60 grams sugars; 8 grams protein; 177 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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- Step 1
Make the topping: Put flour, sugar, butter and ground cardamom in a medium bowl. Using your fingertips, work ingredients together until the mixture resembles wet sand with a few stray pebbles. (The topping can be made in advance and refrigerated for 1 week or frozen for up to 2 months.)
- Step 2
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Toss the blackberries with ½ cup/100 grams sugar and transfer the mixture to an 8-inch square baking dish.
- Step 3
Sprinkle topping over berries loosely, and transfer to the oven. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the topping is well browned. Let cool for 10 minutes, or serve at room temperature.
- Step 4
As the crisp bakes, make the custard sauce: Put half-and-half and sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the cardamom seeds and bring to just under a simmer, stirring. Put yolks in a bowl and whisk until smooth, then whisk in 1 cup of hot half-and-half mixture. Pour the contents of the bowl back into the saucepan and cook, whisking, on a very low flame until the mixture barely thickens, about 5 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Serve sauce hot, or let cool and refrigerate until ready to use. (Sauce can be made up to 2 days in advance.)
- Step 5
To serve, scoop large spoonfuls of crisp into individual shallow bowls. Ladle the sauce around each serving or pass the sauce at the table.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Prakash Nadkarni
Tips for using cardamom: * It's the 3rd priciest spice after saffron & vanilla, but potent when used appropriately. * Instead of wastefully using 1 tb whole seeds and straining, powder 1 tsp with mortar/pestle or dry grinder (here, with some sugar to bulk up grinder's contents). * Intact seeds/pods keep for 1-2 yrs+. Powder turns into sawdust rapidly, so make just what you need. (Cardamom sugar, like vanilla bean kept in sugar, lasts longer than plain powder.)
cynthia
Was delicious but more like fruit soup with a delicious, temporarily crunchy topping. Seriously, it needs some thickening agent in the fruit- cornstarch or flour or something. This recipe was great (made with blackberries and 1/4 raspberries) but the whole dish is a purple liquid. Next time I will toss some cornstarch or tapioca with the fruit.
Heather
I used 2tbs of cornstarch to thicken it up and it came out with beautiful consistency. The cardamom and cream is a divine combo. I also cut out roughly 25g of sugar at each stage and it was still perfectly sweet.
Julie
Rave reviews from my guests. I used a mixture of peaches and blackberries and a smidge more cardamom than the recipe called for.
Prakash Nadkarni
RE: Ground cardamom vs seeds: Depends on how old or fresh it is. If it's reasonably fresh, 1 tsp in the cardamom sauce should be fine (don't waste time straining the sauce).
RE
Delicious! Used 1/3 each blackberries, blueberries and peaches. 1/4 cup light brown sugar and 1/4 cup white sugar for topping. Added 3 tablespoons of topping to fruit to thicken and only about 1/3 cup sugar. Just so good!
ciaomellons
I wish I had have read these notes prior to baking this. I ended up with a berry soup with a crunchy top. While delicious - I'm very surprised that this recipe does not call for a thickening agent for the crisp. Seems like an oversight - will definitely heed Cynthia's advice and try using cornstarch next time. Custard didn't come out either. I followed the directions (this was my first custard). Substituted with a cardamon whipped cream - YUM. TLDR: Read the notes before cooking a recipe here.
Liza
I only have ground cardamom....can you suggest what Quantity I add in place of the seeds or pods?
Libby
Like many others, I decreased the sugar content after reading the comments - 1/3c per component - and added 2 Tbsp. corn starch to the filling. The result was fabulous - simple, delicious, and elegant. The amount of custard is a lot for the amount of pasty. I think this component could easily be halved. Knowing I’ll have leftovers, I’ll pour it over fresh strawberries or maybe even use it as a coffee creamer. It’s that good.
Stephane
10/10. I halved the recipe and it was absolutely delicious. Perfect end of summer treat.
Gina Ruben
I make a lot of crisps and they generally call for a tablespoon or 2 of flour, that's what i would add. Just look at another berry crisp recipe if you need exact amount.
Charles
Had an all David Tanis dinner tonight, with his Summer Vegetables with Spicy Yogurt Sauce for dinner, and this delightful crisp for dessert. Like others have suggested, I cut the sugar down to 1/3 cup for each of the steps instead of 1/2 cup, and I used brown sugar for the topping because I ran out of granulated. Also added 2 Tbsp of corn starch to the fruit (half blackberries, half peaches) and macerated overnight in the fridge. Everyone loved it and raved about the cardamom custard sauce.
Cookie
If you sprinkle a few tablespoons of the prepared crust in with the berries, that will thicken it up.
Natalie Serber
Frankly, it may have been the fault of the berries, but I found the dessert to be too sweet. Next time around I would use far less sugar on the berries as they bake. Also, less sugar in the crumble, which was... boring. I will use a mixture of flour, oats, and nuts in the crumble, or completely omit and just serve the berries with the sauce, which was sublime.
Katie W
This was great! A few things I tried out: - Instead of adding sugar to the berries I added a spoonful of berry jam which helped thicken the mixture nicely. - I used a non-dairy creamer instead of half-and-half and it worked well for the sauce. - I used one cup of berries and cut the topping and sauce by 1/3 to bake in two ramekins for a smaller amount
nina
Excellent. Cardamom custard is the best part IMHO and keeps well. As other reviews suggested, a thickening agent is necessary for the berries; I added 2 tbsp flour to the mixture and it came out perfectly firm but still saucy. I recommend letting it cool to room temperature before serving.
Ann R
I made this crisp last night with home grown blackberries. It was delicious and not soupy. I suspect the "soupiness" depends on how much water the blackberries contain. We water our plants very little and the fruit is quite concentrated and flavorful. (also seedy)
SS
Loved the custard, thought the crisp part had too much crisp relative to blackberries. that's an easy fix though!
Susan Ford
I was cooking for a crowd so I increased the recipe by 50%. The topping didn't brown in 40 minutes so I turned on the broiler and that did the trick. Absolutely delicious, will definitely make again. That cardamom cream sauce.... swoony.
Allplains
Made 1/2 batch and added 1T cornstarch and lessened sugar in each stage…added more cardamom -taste and adjust.
Susan Walker Conta
Amending my previous comment, let it cool and it’s not too soupy! Amazing. I topped with toasted pecans and whipped cream plus the custard sauce. Heavenly.
Susan Walker Conta
Great but only 4 stars because yes, it’s soupy. But fabulous sauce. Used brown sugar, used less. In the amazing custard sauce I added a whole vanilla bean pod scraped, and whirled it all in blender, partly cooled to avoid steam explosion, then strained which let the flavorful vanilla seeds remain in the custard. Delightful. Served with a dollop of whipped cream and lemon zest.
Allplains
We loved this. The sauce was perfect with the berries. I will increase the crumbly topping by a third to make up for some of the fruit liquid. Thank you for a great dessert we will have again!
gourmeteveryday
Ratios were perfect using wild blackberries. The tiny smidge of cardamom (I crushed seeds from 1 pod with the butt end of a kitchen knife) in the crust is next level. Skipped the sauce, used plain whipped cream for simplicity. Family says it was the best dessert ever.
Mac
Added some cornstarch and extra cardamom seeds, easy and delicious
Karl S
Tasty and easy! I love how it uses so much fruit. I used 1/3 cup sugar for each step, and it was still quite sweet. 1/4 cup next time. Used our backyard wild blackberries and some raspberries. I added 2T corn starch to crisp (so it's not soupy). I used 1t of cardamom powder in sauce recipe instead of seeds or pods (avoided staining step). Could probably get by with 1/2 of sauce recipe.
karen
This is great! I used blueberries and raspberries.
Todd
Try other fruits with cinnamon or other spices. Don’t double sauce. Try cornstarch to thicken sauce
michelem
My family is blown away by this recipe! They love it and it's now in the regular rotation for "company" dessert.
Bianca Russo
Loved this recipe. I followed several comments and cut the sugar in all the steps by 25 grams and added 1 tablespoon of corn starch to the filling. Turned out perfectly. I used all blackberries and served it at room temperature and it was not soupy. The sauce is wonderful and the recipe makes more than needed for the crisp but the leftover is great cold poured over a fruit salad; very refreshing.
Bianca Russo
Made this again and reduced the sugar in all 3 steps to 50 grams. Turned out great for the crisp and the topping but the sauce was not as thick and a bit blander. Next time I'll make the sauce with 75 grams of sugar and it should be perfect.
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