Recipe: Fall Fruit Crisp

This recipe is more of a non-recipe. Once you've made a crisp, you really don't need to follow a recipe again for it to turn out right. There's no need to measure each ingredient - it's all about approximation. As long as you have the proportions somewhat close, then you can't go wrong!

Make it as big as the amount of fruit or the pan you have. It's so quick and easy to make on a whim! Plus, there are so many different ingredients that work well in a crisp, you can modify it to what you have in your kitchen when the mood strikes (or when those ripening fruit need using up)!

Here's how I made it this time:

Fall Fruit Crisp

Ingredients:

around 6 pieces of fall fruit, especially stone fruit like peaches, nectarines and apricots

2/3 cup brown sugar, divided

1/3 + scant 1/4 cup whole wheat or all purpose flour, divided

1/3 cup oats, preferably large flake

1/3 cup chopped pecans (optional, add more oats if omitting)

1/3 cup butter, softened

a combination of spices, as desired: cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger and/or mace

Methods:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Chop the fruit into bite-sized pieces.

I used 2 apricots, 2 small nectarines and 2 persimmons. I only peeled the persimmons since their skin is a little tough. Use whatever combination of fresh or frozen fruit you have on hand. Apples, pears, stone fruit like peaches or apricots and berries work best in my opinion, but feel free to experiment. Single-fruit crisps are just as good as mixed-fruit, so be creative!

Throw them into an oven-safe dish and mix in about 1/3 cup of brown sugar, a little less than 1/4 cup of flour (depending on how much fruit you end up with) and 2 to 3 tsp of spices. I went with about 2 tsp of ginger and a generous pinch of both nutmeg and cinnamon.

I also forgot about the flour and ended up with an extremely runny crisp - don't be like me!

3. Combine remaining sugar, flour, oats and nuts.

Add in another 2 or 3 tsp of your chosen spices. You can add as much or as little as you like. I think I went with about 2 tsp ginger, 1 tsp cinnamon, and a generous pinch of both nutmeg and allspice.

4. Cut in softened butter.

You should get a coarse, crumbly mixture.

5. Top fruit with crumbs.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until bubbling and golden on top.

Enjoy!

Crisps are especially nice with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

If you happen to have any. I didn't. It was still delicious.

Use up some of that amazing fall fruit in a crisp tonight! Let me know how good it was if you do!