This Winter Fruit Crisp brings a bit of freshness to the colder days of the year. Both sweet and tart, this crisp uses apples, pears, and cranberries to balance the two flavor profiles. Topped with a nutty oat topping that brings a bit of texture to every bite, this crisp is easy to throw together and an absolutely perfect way to start your day–either over yogurt or with a spoonful of creme fraiche melted over the top–or end it–perhaps with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Christmas is over and now begins that final week of the year where people reflect on the past 12-months (or 10 years in this case as a new decade is upon us!) and gather together all of their hopes for the coming year. Christmas is over which also means that a lot of leftovers are in the fridge, and if you’re family is anything like man, that means that there is an after-dinner fruit plate sitting around that was just barely touched on the holiday.
After a combined late night and early morning of baking bread and cheesecake, not to mention weeks of cakes and cookies, I wanted to share something that was a bit lighter–something easy to make with minimal dishes for cleanup. This Winter Fruit Crisp is just the right level of effort I was willing to put in after a tiring Christmas–the fruit can be mixed in the dish that it’s baked in, the crisp uses melted butter which means you don’t need to get your hands dirty and can just stir everything together with a spoon or spatula, and you get something that tastes like it should have been on the table for breakfast Christmas morning. Minimal effort, but the taste is still deliciously impressive–I call that a win for everyone.
With a new year also comes resolutions. Do you make any resolutions? I probably mentioned this last year, but I was never one for making them. I get why people do it–the beginning of a new year is like rewinding a cassette tape over the entire year prior and being able to hit record to rewrite what’s on there. But there are things that I know I genuinely need to improve upon throughout the year. So maybe it’s just that my resolutions are constant, however, there seems to be more pressure put upon them with the new year.
Let’s be real, I’m just going to figure things out as the days go and do everything pretty much off script. Who’ll join me?
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 50-60 minutes |
| Passive Time | 30 minutes |
| Servings |
servings
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- 4 apples medium-to-large, peeled & thinly sliced
- 2 pears peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 cup cranberries
- 1 orange zest only
- 1/2 lemon juice only
- 1/4 cup honey runny
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 Tbsp corn starch
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 cup walnuts toasted and chopped
- 1/2 cup salted butter melted
Ingredients
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- Make sure a rack is fitted in the center of the oven. Preheat to 375°F.
- Lightly grease a 2.5 quart dish (about 9" x 13"). Toss all of the fruit into the dish. Add the orange zest, lemon juice, honey, vanilla extract, corn starch, cinnamon, and cardamom. Stir in the prepared dish until the fruit is fully covered and the honey, spices, and cornstarch are fully combined. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the rolled oats, almond flour, light brown sugar, nutmeg, and salt. Add in the chopped walnuts and stir to distribute. Add in the melted butter and stir until the dry ingredients are fully coated and clumps begin to form.
- Transfer the crisp topping to the prepared baking dish and layer evenly over the fruit mixture.
- Place a large baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven in to catch any juice that might boil over. Place the dish with the fruit crisp on the middle rack. Bake for 50-60 minutes until the juices are thickened and bubbling/boiling all around the edges.
- Remove the dish from the oven and allow to cool for about 30 minutes before scooping over ice cream, over yogurt, or into a bowl on its own.
*Make sure you use certified gluten-free oats if you want to make sure no traces of gluten make their way into this crisp