Raspberry Rhubarb Crisp

There is a small restaurant in our town that makes delicious, hearty meals. The buffet steams with Indian curries and vegetable stews, wild rice casseroles layered with melted cheese and warm slices of baked sweet potato clinging to their toasted skins. Once you've filled your plate with a colorful array of foods you reach the counter, and as you hand the waitress your plate to be weighed, you'll notice all of the beautiful baked goods. Thumbprints filled with raspberry jam, a chocolate bundt cake dusted with powdered sugar, and apricot muffins with grandiose tops.

There is often one giant crisp filled with seasonal fresh fruits sitting on the counter. When you decide to try some, they'll fill a wide soup cup to the brim and heat it in the microwave. Once it's warm a waiter will bring it over to your table and you'll dive in with a spoon, scooping out a warm mouthful of berries with a sprinkling of oats. The berries are tart and sweet, and so velvety they will seem to just melt away in your mouth.... Suddenly you'll realize how little you have left and you'll try to savor the last few bites. When you reach the bottom you'll fervently scrape the last traces of filling from the dish, licking the spoon clean. And when you've finished you'll ask yourself why you don't eat crisps more often.

The next time you go to the restaurant you will make sure to order the crisp again; and when you do, you will be reminded of everything you love about crisps - the warm berries; the sweet, crumbly topping and you'll wonder what's kept you from making a crisp of your own.

Eventually you'll realize that it's time you did. So you'll go to the store and you'll buy some of the last stalks of rhubarb of the season and a couple cartons of raspberries too, and race home to make your crisps.
When they come out of the oven, you'll be reminded again of everything you love about a raspberry crisp. And when you finish yours, you'll scrape the dish clean.

Raspberry Rhubarb Crisps

makes 3 individual crisps

1 cup chopped rhubarb

2 cups raspberries

1/3 cup sucanat or brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

topping

6 tablespoons (3/8 cup) whole wheat pastry flour

6 tablespoons rolled oats

1 tablespoon sucanat (or brown sugar)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 teaspoons coconut oil, melted

2 1/2 teaspoons maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350F and grease three 8-oz ramekins with oil or melted butter.
In a large bowl combine the rhubarb and raspberries. In a separate bowl whisk together sucanat (or brown sugar), cornstarch and cinnamon; then gently fold the mixture into the raspberries and rhubarb and set aside.
In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, oats, sugar and cinnamon. Stir in the melted coconut oil and the maple syrup until incorporated - the topping should be moist but still crumbly.
Divide the raspberries and rhubarb evenly between the three ramekins. Then top each one with one third of the topping (about 1/4 cup each).
Bake crisps for 30-35 minutes until the topping is golden and the fruit is bubbling.