Maple Oatmeal Blueberry Crumble

Blueberry season is just wrapping up here in Texas which I think means it’s probably in full swing north of here. Our house is full of blueberry lovers, so when I was presented with an amazing deal on 1 1/2 gallons of fresh organic blueberries straight from the farm, how could I possibly pass it up? (I was actually excited not to have to take Charlie to the store to purchase these. He thinks blueberries are the best food ever created, but because he’s only two, he doesn’t say “blueberries” well. It comes out “boobies”. Have you ever stood in the produce department of a grocery store with a two-year-old screaming excitedly while bouncing in the cart, “BOOBIES! BOOBIES! BOOBIES!”?)

We’ve eaten loads of these straight from the bowl. We’ve made blueberry muffins, but for some reason, my kids don’t care for them much. They did inhale the blueberry maple syrup that I made with our weekly pancake dinner, though. (I used this recipe: Blueberry Maple Syrup.) Because we’re moving across the country, I didn’t want to freeze any, so I needed to come up with a recipe that we all really liked that would get these blueberries eaten! Enter my Maple Oatmeal Blueberry Crumble.
The Ingredient List
3 1/2 – 5 cups of blueberries (Blueberries are one of the “Dirty Dozen“, so try to choose organic only. Be sure that you’ve removed all the stems.)
3 tablespoons of maple syrup
2 1/2 cups of white whole wheat flour
2 cups of rolled oats
1 cup of maple syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
1 cup of butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour blueberries into a bowl. Drizzle the 3 tablespoons of maple syrup over them and toss them lightly to cover. Set the berries aside.
Melt butter.
In a separate large bowl, combine flour, oats and cinnamon.Pour 1 cup of maple syrup into the melted butter and stir.Combine the butter/maple syrup combination with the dry ingredient.Enlist the help of any early risers. (Jamie helped me make this batch for breakfast yesterday.  Please excuse his almost-too-small-just-woke-up-wrinkled-mama-made jammies!  They were a great fit when I made them over a year ago.  You can peek back at them and see how much he’s grown right here.)Once the crumble is all mixed, pour about half of it into a buttered 9 1/2 x 11 glass or ceramic baking dish.  Press it in well.  If it’s sticky, try wetting your fingers a little, or just lick it off your fingers when you’re finished!Pour the blueberries evenly over the top.Use your fingers to sprinkle the remaining crumble over the top.Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until the topping is browned and the blueberries are bubbling up on the sides.  Go ahead and try to resist the urge to grab one of those crumbles off of the top.  They’re so yummy!  (I wonder how this would work as an oatmeal cookie . . . might have to try that.)Enjoy!  (A tiny little word of caution: when you eat this straight from the oven, it may temporarily turn your teeth slightly purple.  Your children will think this is absolutely hilarious.  If you’re serving company, they may not feel the same way, but if you add a little homemade vanilla ice cream, they’ll totally forgive you!)