Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Mixed Fruit Crisp



Boy, I've never blogged from my office computer so don't blame me if this sucks. I need a dual-core processor to properly do this, see?

Keith, this one is for you. Recipe is taken from The New Best Recipe.

I made a double recipe which fits nicely into a 9x13 baking dish.


INGREDIENTS


Topping

3/4 cup AP flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

pinch of salt

1 stick of butter cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1.5 cups of chopped nuts...I used walnuts...feel free to use whatever you have on hand.


Filling

3 lbs (or so) of cut up fruit--i used approximately 3 lbs of nectarines/apricots (post-chopping weight) and 1/2 lb of boysenberries

zest of 2 lemons

3-5 tablespoons of lemon juice (use your taste buds)

1/3 to 2/3 cup of sugar (again, use your tastebuds...if your fruit isn't very sweet, add a bit more sugar...if you over did it on the lemon juice, add sugar to compensate)

(Advanced move...I made a corn starch slurry with the lemon juice to help thicken the filling...feel free to do the same if you so wish)


Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.


Whisk together flour, sugar, spices and salt. Add cubed butter and, using a pair of knives, "cut" the butter until it is pea-sized. If you're lazy, just squeeze the butter and flour/sugar mixture until it's totally homogeneous. Nobody will know the difference. Mix in the nuts until evenly distributed. Refrigerate the topping for at least 15 minutes.

Process the fruit. If you're using stone fruit, please make sure you're not an idiot like I am and don't buy clingfruit. Freestone, please. At any rate, you just want chunks of fruit. See picture:

Toss the fruit with the lemon zest, sugar and lemon juice.


Distribute the chilled topping over the fruit:



Place crisp into oven. Bake for about an hour.

Serve! It's great warm or room temperature. Great with whipped cream or ice cream. It's a winner.

Time-15 minutes of active work, an hour of baking time.

Cost-Depends on where you buy your fruit. If you buy organic nectarines from the farmer's market, it'll cost an arm and a leg. Say, anywhere from 3-15 bucks total depending on food cost.