If this strawberry crisp recipe is not the easiest and most adaptable recipe I have seen so far, then I don’t know what is. If you think you have a quicker & tastier recipe, come forward. Otherwise, note this down.

The original recipe is called Strawberry & Rhubarb Crisp and it is from Kate Zuckerman’s wonderful book The Sweet Life: Desserts From Chanterelle. It became an instant favorite of mine. Why? For one, it is delicious. Two, it was very quick to prepare and required just a small bowl and a food processor – minimal clean-up is good! Three, once you get a hold of the streusel topping recipe, alternatives are endless. And four, it is the perfect make-ahead dessert, especially if you happen to live alone.

Once you prepare the streusel topping, you can keep it in the fridge and bake fresh single-servings with different fruit combinations any time you like. The topping has no eggs in it, so it keeps well for a long time.

You start by pulsing all the dough ingredients in a food processor. And then a quick toss of strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and flour. First the berries then the crumbly mixture and it is ready for the oven.

As I said, the variations are endless. In the short amount of time that I wrote this post, here is what I came up with:

- Apple Crisp (with ground cinnamon added into the dough)

- Pear crisp (with ground almonds added in the dough)

- Banana Crisp with Nutella Sauce (with ground hazelnuts added in the dough for extra awesomeness – although bananas may get way too mushy, but who cares when you can drizzle Nutella sauce on top, right?)

- Mango and Pineapple Crisp (served with raspberry sorbet)

- Peach Crisp (served with Vanilla Frozen Yoghurt)

I served this one with Macadamia Nut Brittle ice cream and it was delicious. Best to eat it right away tough. I took some of it to work the next day and although it was still delicious, the streusel was not as crispy as before.