Serviceberries: a delicious dessert fruit

Serviceberry season is upon us! Serviceberries (Amelanchier spp.), also known as juneberries or saskatoon, are a delicious native fruit.

Ripe serviceberries in mid-May in Greenville, South Carolina.

To learn more about them, see our article: How to grow, forage, and eat serviceberries. 

Raw serviceberries taste like a cross between blueberries and peaches — truly delicious. Cooked, they also develop a distinctive almond flavor. These features make them incredible in desserts like our: 

• serviceberry cobbler made in a cast iron pan, and
• crustless serviceberry custard pie.

With our first nice harvest of serviceberries this season we decided to make a new, simple dessert recipe: serviceberry pecan maple crumble.

Serviceberry crumble dessert! Simple and delicious.

If you have serviceberries you’d like to put to good use in a dessert, this recipe is for you!

What you’ll need:

For baking, all you’ll need is a buttered 8″ x 8″ baking dish. 

As for the primary ingredients, you’ll need the following (note alternative ingredients):

• fresh ripe serviceberries 
• organic white whole wheat pastry flour (alt: all-purpose flour)
• organic old fashioned oats 
• maple sugar (alt: light brown sugar, coconut sugar, or combo of the two) 
• pecans, which you’ll pulverize and incorporate into the crumble crust (alt: walnuts or almonds) 
• unsalted butter (alt: coconut oil or vegan butter substitute of your choice)

Unlike most other baked desserts, crumbles are quite forgiving when it comes to precise ingredient ratios. We provide ingredient quantities in grams below, but you can deviate a bit and still get great results. 

Mmm. Ripe serviceberries. The more purple, the better the flavor.

Serviceberry crumble, step by step: 

To help you get this recipe just right, here are some process photos and notes: 

1. You’ll start by pre-heating your oven to 375°F (190°C) and buttering an 8×8″ baking dish. We used a glass baking dish, but metal or ceramic will work fine. They might require a slightly shorter or longer baking time though.

2. Next, pour your serviceberries into the baking dish. Then you’ll mix in lemon juice, flour, maple sugar, nutmeg, and salt until the berries are coated. 

Coated serviceberries in baking dish.

3. Pulverize your pecans in a blender / Ninja. Pour them into a mixing bowl, then add your other DRY crumble ingredients (flour, oats, maple sugar, salt) in a medium bowl. Stir them together then pour in your melted butter. Stir together with a large spoon. 

Crumble topping, mixed and ready to go on top.

4. Use your fingers to sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over the surface of the serviceberries in your baking dish. 

Ready for the oven!

5. Bake for about 30 minutes on middle oven rack. When done, the crumble will be lightly browned on top and the berries will be bubbly. Remove from the oven and place on cooling rack. 

30 minutes in the oven and golden brown on top.

Eat your serviceberry crumble warm as-is or take it to the next level by topping each serving with homemade whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or something comparable. 

Once cooled, cover the baking dish with an airtight lid and store for up to 1 week. Reheat in the oven or a microwave. Enjoy! 

Recipe: Serviceberry pecan maple crumble

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Serviceberry pecan maple crumble

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: amelanchier, juneberries, saskatoon, serviceberries, serviceberry dessert

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 8

Author: Aaron von Frank

A delicious and simple crumble dessert featuring serviceberries, aka juneberries or saskatoon.

Ingredients

For berries

• 2 pints fresh ripe serviceberries (4 cups / 590 grams / 1 lb 5 oz) 
• 2 tbsp fresh Meyer lemon juice
• 3 tbsp maple sugar (22 grams)  alt: light brown sugar or coconut sugar
• 2 tbsp organic white whole wheat pastry flour (10 gm) alt: 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• dash of fresh-grated nutmeg
• pinch of salt

For crumble topping

• 98 grams (3/4 cup + 2 tbsp) organic white whole wheat pastry flour alt: a little over 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (50 grams) pecans, pulverized before adding to crumble 
• 3/4 cup (68g) organic old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup (66g) maple sugar   alt: 1/2 cup light brown or coconut sugar
• 1/2 cup (115g / 1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1/8 tsp salt

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 375°F (190°C) and butter an 8×8″ baking dish.

2. Pour whole serviceberries into baking dish. Add lemon juice, flour, maple sugar, nutmeg, and salt and mix until the berries are coated. 

3. Pulverize pecans in a blender, then pour/scrape them into mixing bowl. Add other dry crumble ingredients (flour, oats, maple sugar, salt). Stir dry ingredients together then pour in melted butter. Stir together with a large spoon.

4. Sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over the surface of serviceberries in the baking dish using your fingers. Bake for ~30 minutes on middle oven rack. When done, the crumble will be lightly browned on top and berries will be bubbly.

   Remove from the oven and place on cooling rack. Serve as-is or with scoop of whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or similar topping.

   Have extra? Store covered in fridge for up to one week. Re-heat prior to serving.

We hope you enjoy this delicious serviceberry dessert recipe as much as we do! 

KIGI,

Other serviceberry articles you’ll want to sink your teeth into: 

• How to grow, forage, and eat serviceberries
• Recipe: Serviceberry cobbler made in a cast iron pan
• Recipe: Crustless serviceberry custard pie
• Recipe: Serviceberry salsa with green cilantro