toasted strawberry crisp

it was my dad's birthday yesterday, and as a family, we always celebrate with a good dessert. we aren't huge cake people, even though i could eat a cake any day, so we tend to go for fruit tarts! i have yet to make one, but as soon as i buy a tart tin, i'm on it. until then, since my parents like fruit and nothing too sweet, a strawberry crumble will do. 

this also takes almost no time to prep and make, and i was able to squeeze it in after work before i drove up to my parents'. i made this in a loaf tin, but if you have a brownie (8x8) tin, i would suggest increasing it to 1.5x (at the least) of the amount of ingredients listed.

i would also assume this recipe does well with other fruits, as long as you keep the quantity the same. so many summer fruits to try this with! 

feel free to adjust the ratio of rolled oats:flour, i really enjoy the toasted crisps on top so i like to add more oat:flour ratio. 

ingredients

for the crisp --

1 cup rolled oats

2/3 cup flour

1/3 sugar

1/2 cup (or 1 stick) butter, melted

1/2 tsp vanilla

for the filling --

3 cups strawberries (halved or whole, i kept the smaller ones whole)

1.5 tbsp sugar

instructions:

1. preheat oven to 350F.
2. combine dry crisp ingredients together (oats, flour, sugar).
3. melt the butter, and combine to dry ingredients. add vanilla.
   it will look slightly crumbly and not be completely cohesive, which is totally fine and what you should expect!
4. halve or quarter larger strawberries (or smaller ones too, if you don't want to leave them whole), and place in baking tin.
5. sprinkle sugar, and mix well.
6. pour crisp mixture over strawberries, covering them entirely (don't forget about the corners!).
7. bake for ~25-30 minutes until the crisp layer has browned, and bubbles appear from the filling. 
8. eat on its own, or even better, with some ice cream.