Blueberry Crisp Recipe plus Coconut

At a glance

What stands out: This blueberry crisp with coconut is a fun and rich twist on plain blueberry crisp, with toasted coconut and an additional layer of crisp. It’s a straightforward fruit crisp recipe that everyone always raves about.

How long it takes: a little less than an hour
Equipment you’ll need: mixing bowls, baking pan, oven
Servings: 6

We're so excited to be sharing our dear friend Mary’s latest book with you! We met Mary through blogging, similar to many of our now close friends (the internet is so crazy!) and we're so grateful that we’ve had the opportunity to spend time together a few times in real life. She’s an absolute gem and inspires us every day by the way she parents her boys and the way she lives her life.

If you love the recipes here on Bomumo, you’re going to love Mary’s style of cooking and recipes too, both on her site Barefeet in the Kitchen and in her books. The recipes are straightforward, approachable, and reliable for a busy life, but still made from scratch and absolutely rich. Her most recent book is titled The Weekday Lunches & Breakfasts Cookbook: Straightforward & Rich Home-Cooked Meals for Busy Families. Her first book is titled The Weeknight Dinner Cookbook and we own and love that one as well!

From-scratch Blueberry Crisp

Dessert or breakfast? We love her recipe for blueberry crisp with coconut because in general, crisps are our favorite desserts and we love the twist of adding coconut. Mary has this one filed away under the breakfast category in her book, and while we're not opposed to eating blueberry crisp for breakfast, you could most definitely serve it as a dessert, preferably with a big ol’ scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. For breakfast, we like it with a spoonful of plain Greek yogurt.

Unique layering. We like Mary’s method of making blueberry crisp: she layers half of the crisp mixture on the bottom of the pan before the fruit, so you end up with a crust of sorts at the bottom. We love the different textures you get using this method. If you’re the type that likes tons of crisp piled on top, you could certainly switch up this recipe and prepare it that way as well.

What goes in

• Blueberries: You can use fresh or frozen blueberries; both work fine for crisps.
• Sugar, Cornstarch, Cinnamon: The berries are mixed with this trio to sweeten, thicken, and flavor them.
• Rolled Oats: Use old-fashioned rolled oats. Speedy oats are okay, too, but don’t use instant oats or steel-cut oats.
• Coconut: Shredded coconut, either sweetened or unsweetened, adds a unique flavor and texture to this crisp. You’ll love it!
• All-Purpose Flour: Whole wheat flour is a good alternative or use gluten-free brown rice flour.
• Brown Sugar: Light or dark, just use what you have in your pantry.
• Butter: We usually use unsalted butter but in a pinch, salted butter is fine, too. Melt the butter so it’s straightforward to stir into the topping mix.

How it comes together

Crisps are an unstructured dessert so they are not fussy at all. We find them to be much easier than making a pie. For more fruit crisp recipes, keep reading. We have a list of our favorites at the end of this post.

You’ll need an 8-inch square baking dish or something comparable. A cast iron skillet is a fun alternative. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Begin by lightly tossing together the berries, flour, sugar, and cinnamon in a mixing bowl.

In another bowl, combine the topping ingredients. Use half of the topping to line the bottom of the baking dish. Lightly press it down. Pour the blueberry mixture on top, then cover with the rest of the topping mixture.

Bake for about a half hour. Oh, it smells so good with the fruity blueberries cooking and the coconut toasting! We bet you can’t wait to dig in!

If you’re a fan of everything coconut, be sure to try our coconut macaroons, coconut oatmeal cookies, and coconut custard pie.

Ways to change it

• Add extra flavor. This blueberry crisp recipe has plenty of flavor, especially if you make it with fresh blueberries. If you’re using frozen blueberries or berries that are a little past their peak, you may want to enhance the flavor with a bit of cinnamon or a squeeze of lemon. You don’t want so much that it overpowers the flavor of the blueberries, so just a hint is all you need. Lemon zest or nutmeg are good choices, too.
• Make a crumble or a cobbler instead. If you’re looking for a recipe that’s somewhat similar but made without oats, try our blueberry crumble. The topping is a mixture of flour, sugar, butter, and spices, somewhat similar to a streusel topping. Another option is blueberry cobbler with a more cake-like topping.
• Make bars. If you want more of a bar-type blueberry dessert, try our blueberry crumb bars.

Make-Ahead & Storage

Make it now, bake it later. Crisps are best eaten shortly after they are baked. The good news is you can prepare the crisp ahead of time but don’t bake it.

Refrigerate or freeze. Cover and refrigerate the unbaked crisp up to one day in advance. Remove it from the fridge while the oven preheats, uncover, and bake as directed. It may take an additional five minutes or so. If you want to freeze the unbaked crisp, wrap it well, and freeze for up to a month. Thaw overnight in the fridge and bake as directed.

Leftover baked crisp: It’s not necessary to refrigerate it if you plan on eating the crisp within 24 hours. If it’s going to be much longer than that, we would definitely stick it in the fridge. In either case, cover it tightly with plastic wrap or foil.

Leftover Love

Have a couple scoops of crisp leftover? Stir it into a container of softened vanilla ice cream and refreeze. You’ve just made your own premium flavor of ice cream!

fruit dessert Recipes

• Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp – the reliable summer recipe!
• Apple Crisp with Ginger
• Apple Spice Cake with Bourbon Glaze
• Peach Crumble (no oats in the topping)
• Peach Blueberry Crisp
• Cranberry Orange Coffee Cake
• Berry Galette – the easiest way to make pie!

• Yield: 6 servings
• Prep: 15 minutes
• Cook: 28 minutes
• Total: 53 minutes

Ingredients

Filling Ingredients

• 18 oz. fresh blueberries (about 4 cups)
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Crisp Ingredients

• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• ½ cup sweetened flaked coconut (we use unsweetened and it turns out great!)
• ⅔ cup all-purpose flour (see note for gluten-free alternative)
• ¼ cup light brown sugar
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Lightly grease an 8-inch square pan or a 10-inch cast-iron skillet with butter. Rinse the berries, drain well, and place them in a small bowl. Sprinkle with sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon. Stir to coat.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the oats, coconut, flour, brown sugar, and butter. Stir with a fork to create a streusel-like topping.
4. Scoop half the topping into the prepared pan (see note). Lightly press to cover the bottom of the pan. Pour the berries over the crust, spreading them evenly across the pan. Sprinkle with the remaining crisp topping mixture. If you prefer, all of the topping mixture can be piled on top of the crisp.
5. Bake for 25 to 28 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool at least 10 minutes before scooping into bowls.

Notes

Gluten-free: To make this recipe gluten-free, use ⅔ cup brown rice flour instead of all-purpose flour.

Berry alternatives: Frozen blueberries may be substituted for the fresh berries in this recipe. Blackberries and raspberries work well also. If you are using frozen berries, add two tablespoons of water and an additional 2 tablespoons of sugar to the fruit mixture.

Make ahead: Prepare the crisp ahead of time as instructed but don’t bake it. Cover and refrigerate the unbaked crisp up to one day in advance. Remove it from the fridge while the oven preheats, uncover, and bake as directed. It may take an additional five minutes or so. If you want to freeze the unbaked crisp, wrap it well, and freeze for up to a month. Bake the frozen crisp at 350 °F for 50 to 60 minutes.