Right now, berries are ripe and in season, including blueberries, raspberries, and rhubarb, making it a perfect time to pick some fresh fruit for desserts. Yesterday, Martha joined Today‘s Jenna Bush Hager and guest co-host Maria Shriver to make one of her go-to summer desserts—blueberry crisp.
“I wanted to show everybody how easy it is to make a dessert that your whole family will love and will not leave any crumbs,” Martha says.
She started by mixing the ingredients—flour, granulated sugar, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt—for the crumb topping in a large bowl. She then instructed Shriver, a long-time friend of hers, to cut in cubes of cold butter with a pastry blender into the mixture until it was crumbly.
Following that, Martha poured a generous layer of fresh blueberries into a buttered baking dish, spreading the crumb topping across the top of the berries. For fruit desserts like this, Martha says she lines a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and tops it with a wire rack where she sets the dessert. Any fruit juices drip onto the parchment, making clean-up easy and efficient.
Place the dessert in a 375-degree preheated oven. You’ll know it’s done when it’s bubbling in the center, Martha says. Top with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream for a quick and easy summer dessert. Even Bush Hager says that the blueberry crisp might have been the easiest recipe Martha has ever demonstrated on the show. You can find the recipe in Martha: The Cookbook.
Martha also shared a quick look at her rhubarb lattice tart, as well as Fourth of July recipes and party planning tips during the segment. She showed the audience how to make poppy seed straws using store-bought puff pastry and her famous frozen Martha-rita with pomegranate juice, tequila, and lime juice, which is served in a sugar-rimmed glass.
She also showed the Today hosts what made her famous as a caterer—a large fruit and cheese board she called “landscapes.” Martha shared tips for assembling one of these spreads using berries, currants, cherries, and various cheeses displayed on festive red, white, and blue tableware. She recommends serving 3 to 4 ounces of cheese per person and warns against using soft cheeses if it’s a hot summer day.
