Huckleberry Crisps

August is the height of the wild huckleberry season in the Pacific Northwest, where the tiny purple, intensely sweet fruit is harvested from mountain meadows and used in pies, milk shakes, tarts, crisps, and even in savory dishes. These individual-size desserts, with their crumbly brown sugar topping, can be made with fresh or frozen huckleberries or with the fruit’s close cousin, blueberries.

6 tbsp. plus ½ cup granulated sugar

6 tbsp. flour

¼ cup rolled oats

¼ cup packed light brown sugar

¼ cup chopped walnuts

1 tsp. lemon zest plus

2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

¾ tsp. vanilla extract

½ tsp. kosher salt

¼ tsp. ground cinnamon

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

2 tsp. brandy

4 cups huckleberries or blueberries

2 tbsp. cornstarch Crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream, for serving

Serves 4

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Place four 6-oz. ceramic ramekins on a parchment paper–lined baking sheet.

2. In a medium bowl, combine 6 tbsp. granulated sugar, flour, oats, brown sugar, walnuts, lemon zest, ¼ tsp. vanilla, ¼ tsp. salt, and cinnamon. Using your fingers, work the butter into the flour mixture until crumbly; transfer the topping to the freezer to chill for 30 minutes.

3. In a large bowl, stir together the remaining granulated sugar, salt, and vanilla, along with the lemon juice, brandy, huckleberries, and cornstarch. Divide the berry mixture between the ramekins. Mound some of the topping over each ramekin and bake until the berries are bubbly and the topping is browned, 35–40 minutes. Top each crisp with a dollop of crème fraîche or ice cream and serve.

A World of Butter

Butter is integral to baked goods and sweets: whether we’re creaming it into cake batter, rubbing it into biscuit dough, melting it over pancakes, or blending it with brown sugar to make a streusel topping, it works its rich magic in myriad ways. Various styles have emerged around the world, each one reflecting different regional tastes and production methods. Cultured butter¹ is made from cream in which fermentation—the conversion of milk sugars into lactic acid—has begun to take place. Most butters are made from pasteurized cream, a process that kills naturally occurring bacteria, so, for this style, lactic-acid bacteria are added to induce fermentation and create a sharper, “cultured” taste that many European bakers prefer. Salted butter² can come in both cultured and uncultured versions. Salted butters make for an emphatically flavored condiment or spread. Pungent-tasting preserved butters such as smen³, a Moroccan delicacy, belong to a variety known as fermented butter; they have been allowed to age for anywhere from two weeks to two years. Among the most prized butters in this country are raw-cream butters⁴, which are made from unpasteurized farm-fresh cream, an ingredient that’s hard to get your hands on if you don’t live on or near a dairy farm. Butter that’s been heated so that its water content evaporates and has had its milk solids removed is referred to as clarified butter⁵. This pure, longlasting butterfat, popular in India (where it is called ghee), has a high smoke point and is ideal for frying, as well as baking; it is also mixed with nuts and chickpea flour to make fudge-like sweets called barfi. Uncultured butter made from fresh, pasteurized cream is generally referred to as sweet cream butter⁶ and is the most common choice for baking. Americans’ predilection for chilled yet spreadable butter led to the development of whipped butter⁷, which has nitrogen gas whipped into it after it has been churned, so that it will remain soft at low temperatures. It’s wonderful spread on a bagel, but is a poor choice for cooking.