Apple Cranberry Crisp

by Jessica
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apple crisp

It’s cranberry season! That means I get to buy bags and bags of cranberries and bake lots of desserts with some and freeze the others (you can keep them in the freezer for about a year – just throw the bag in the freezer and that’s it!).

Well, when I added too much sugar to an apple crumble recipe, I knew that adding the recently bought cranberries would be perfect to save the dessert from being too sweet. With that addition, it occurred to me that this is a great fall dessert!

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apples

The recipe is adapted (loosely) from Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa at Home. You can also find the original recipe here. Her recipe uses pears and dried cranberries, I used apples and fresh cranberries. I didn’t have any lemons or oranges, so I skipped the zest and juice and added some maple syrup to make it a little more interesting. The topping recipe was pretty much the same as Ina’s, though I halved the recipe, since I used way less fruit.

I made it pareve for a Friday night dessert. The only difference is the one stick of butter is replaced with soy garden.

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apple cranberry crisp

For the filling:

  • 6 apples, assorted
  • Lemon juice
  • 1 cup fresh cranberries (or frozen)
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons maple sugar
  • 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
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apple crisp topping

For the topping:

  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • Pinch of kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup rolled oats (not instant)
  • 1 stick (8 tablespoons) earth balance

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Peel and chop the apples, put them into a large bowl with some lemon juice (freshly squeezed or bottled).

3. Add sugar, maple syrup, cranberries, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix well. Pour into an 11×7 baking dish.

4. Combine all ingredients for topping either in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or a large bowl. I used the same bowl as the apples,  since I didn’t want to do more dishes (I don’t have a dishwasher!), and used my hands to crumble it together. Sprinkle over fruit.

5. Bake for an hour – don’t forget to put a lined sheet pan underneath so the juice doesn’t drip onto your oven!

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This dessert got rave reviews. It definitely wasn’t too sweet. It probably would have been delicious with more of the topping and some vanilla ice cream, too!

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