Use this easy recipe to make a custom fruit crisp using any kind of fruit you have on hand or find at the farmer’s market this summer.
Are you ready for fruit crisp season? I wasn’t until a couple of days ago when I had a basket of apricots and some garden grown rhubarb that I need to use. I knew I didn’t have a recipe for that exact combination and I wasn’t sure if you could swap out fruits in a recipe or if that was a recipe for disaster.
Tips for an Awesome Custom Fruit Crisp
Maybe you want to make apple crisp, maybe it’s peach crisp. Or maybe it’s rhubarb, strawberry, whatever’s-on-hand crisp. Turns out that a basic fruit crisp recipe is pretty forgiving – but here are a couple of tips for using different fruits:
- For tart fruits like rhubarb and raspberries, go heavier on the sugar. Sweeter fruits like peaches or strawberries need less sugar.
- The opposite goes for lemon juice – use less for rhubarb, more for sweet fruits.
- Very juicy fruits like berries will require more cornstarch to thicken the juice, while firm fruits like apples need less.
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Here’s the basic formula for a customizable fruit crisp:
Start with about 6-8 cups of diced fruit (preferably organic).
Mix together the following ingredients in a medium bowl:
- 1/2 to 1 cup sugar (I prefer organic white for this part but brown sugar works too)
- 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 to 3 tablespoons cornstarch
Mix in the diced fruit and stir until fruit is well coated. Then place fruit mixture in a greased 8 to 10 inch glass or ceramic baking pan.
Next, mix together the topping ingredients:
- 1 cup flour (I usually use all-purpose but feel free to experiment with other flours)
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecans are especially nice) (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- dash salt
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, softened
Spread the topping on top of the fruit mixture. In my opinion, you can never have too much topping!
Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until the topping is just getting brown and the fruit is bubbling up from below.
I think a scoop of ice cream is pretty much mandatory with this dessert.
Custom Fruit Crisp Recipe
Easy Homemade Fruit Crisp with Your Favorite Fruit
Ingredients
- 6-8 cups diced fruit
- 1/2 to 1 cup organic sugar
- 1 to 3 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 to 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional) pecans, walnuts, almonds
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 dash salt
- 8 tablespoons butter softened
Instructions
- Grease an 8 to 10 inch glass or ceramic baking pan
- Mix sugar, lemon juice and cornstarch together in a medium bowl.
- Add diced fruit and mix until fruit is well coated.
- Place mixture in prepared baking pan.
- Mix flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt together in a small bowl.
- Stir in softened butter using a pastry blender or your fingers until mixture is crumbly.
- Spread topping evenly over fruit in baking pan.
- Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes or until topping starts to brown and fruit is bubbling up from below.
- Serve warm with ice cream if desired.
What’s your favorite kind of fruit crisp?
diane says
OH, RHUBARB! My favorite fruit ever! I have some growing in the garden and apple rhubarb crisp is one of my favorites!