Fruit Crisp

At a recent family dinner, we were planning to have homemade magic shell, a new favorite topping, with ice cream and frozen fruit for dessert. If you use frozen fruit, it's best to let it thaw slightly. In preparation, I had put mixed frozen fruit--one of those bags of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries--in a serving bowl. Well, we ended up just serving ice cream with the magic shell. So I tried to think of something else to do with the fruit. I thought of cobbler, but I'm not really a cobbler fan. But I love crisps! I decided to modify my Apple Crisp Topping. I simply left out the spices, the cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. But berries are a lot juicier than apples, so I decided to prepare the fruit as if I were making cobbler.

Here is the resulting recipe:

Fruit Crisp

In a large, heavy pot, combine:
1/4 C sugar
1 T corn starch

Add:
4 C mixed fruit (such as a bag of frozen strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries)

Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils.

Pour into an ungreased 2-quart casserole dish or 9"x13" baking pan.

Top with Apple Crisp Topping, minus the cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until the fruit is boiling and the topping has browned.

Enjoy warm or cold, by itself or with ice cream. Delicious!

Apple Crisp

I love apples. The apple is one of my must-have foods. It stands on its own. It accompanies other foods, like natural peanut butter. Or it can get fancy.

Apples bake well. Apple Crisp is the second-best way to bake apples. The first, of course, is apple pie, but I'll save that for another day.

Apple Crisp tastes wonderful, makes your home smell great while it is baking, and it is easy to make.

First, make the topping. If you slice the apples first they might get a little brown. This is enough topping to cover apples arranged in a 9"x13" baking pan.

Apple Crisp Topping

Mix together with hands or pastry cutter:
1 1/3 C sugar
3/4 C whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 C rolled oats
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cloves
2/3 C butter

Next, prepare the apples. I like to use empire apples because they are my favorite apple. But there are lots of other varieties that work well, too.

Wash, core, peel, and slice 8 or 9 medium apples. You need 8 cups of apple slices. Arrange them in a 9"x13" baking pan. You do not need to add sugar to the apples or grease the pan.

After that, sprinkle the topping over the apples. Bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes.

This tastes good warm or cold; by itself, with a glass of cold milk, or with vanilla ice cream. I can also verify that the time of day or night that you eat it doesn't matter.

You can make the topping ahead of time or make extra for another time. It stores well in the refrigerator for a short time or in the freezer for a longer time. I don't know how long because mine never stays there very long.

Substitute pears for apples and you will have a delicious Pear Crisp.