Lemony Strawberry Blackberry Oatmeal Crumble

Summer fruits are here! And that means eating tons of them straight from cartons, and getting creative with them in recipes too. I had some beautiful fresh blackberries from the farmer's market, some leftover lemon curd from a cake recipe, and a carton of strawberries that my daughter didn't seem particularly interested in this week. You never know with that one. You've seen that meme about the bananas:

Well in our house, this is true for strawberries... and bananas.. but this is about strawberries! My 6 year old can eat an entire carton of strawberries in a day... or look at them side-eyed and ask for grapes... which we don't have. You just never know which way the wind will be blowing. But that is a-ok, because strawberries will always find a soft place to land in this house. Sometimes chopped up and into the freezer for smoothies later, or into a yummy dessert like this one!

The original recipe (linked below) doesn't use lemon curd and suggests these are more breakfast bars - I think you can absolutely justify these as baked oatmeal bars! I'm not 100% sure if the texture will hold up, but I will certainly try them again in the future without the lemon curd and see if that is an option for a special breakfast / brunch. You can mix and match the fruit layer to use what you have - I think adding in some raspberries or blueberries would be fun too!

Lemony Strawberry Blackberry Oatmeal Crumble

Ingredients

Filling
1 16-oz carton sliced fresh strawberries
1 cup fresh blackberries
3 TBS white sugar
2 TBS all-purpose flour
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup lemon curd (optional)

Oat Mixture
2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted and slightly cooled
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Spray a 9x9 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
2. In a large bowl combine all filling ingredients, except the lemon curd. Toss gently to coat the fruit and set aside.
3. In another large bowl, prepare the oat mixture by combining the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine. Pour the melted butter and vanilla extract in and gently stir until most of your dry mixture is combined into the liquid ingredients (it's ok for some of it to still be a little dry).
4. Pour 2/3 of the oat mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking dish and press gently to create an even layer.
5. Spread the lemon curd over the top of this layer, then sprinkle the prepared fruit mixture over the lemon curd (if you don't want to use lemon curd, just omit that part and follow the rest of the instructions / ingredients as written).
6. Gently and evenly sprinkle the remaining oat mixture over the top of the fruit layer. 
7. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 35-45 minutes; oat topping should be lightly browned and fruit should be bubbly.
8. If you want to try to slice these into bars, allow to cool completely before slicing and serving. If you want to scoop and serve loosely, feel free to scoop up into a bowl and serve warm - great topped with some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream! 

Recipe adapted from Annie's Noms