Maple Fruit Crisp

Ingredients

apples — 5 medium (any type but Delicious), peeled, cored, thinly sliced

pears — 2 Anjou, Comice or Bartlett pears, peeled, cored, thinly sliced

cranberries — 2/3 cup fresh or frozen

raisins — 2 tablespoons (golden raisins are prettier)

pure maple syrup — 3 tablespoons

flour — 1 tablespoon

—

flour — 1/2 cup

oats — 1/2 cup

walnuts — 4 tablespoons 

brown sugar — 1/2 cup, firmly packed

cinnamon — 2 teaspoons

salt — 1/2 teaspoon

cold unsalted soy margarine — 10 tablespoons, cut into bits

pure maple syrup — 6 tablespoons

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the apples, pears, cranberries, raisins and maple syrup as listed in top half of ingredients. Toss to coat well. Sprinkle on the flour and toss again. Scrape the fruit into an 8x8-inch pan and smooth it out.


2. To make the topping (using the second half of the ingredients): Combine the flour, oats, walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. With your fingertips, rub in the butter bits until coarse crumbs form. Stir in the maple syrup just until the crumbs are evenly moistened (the mixture will be a little gooey). With your fingers, sprinkle the mixture on top of the fruit, breaking up any large chunks. 


3. Bake 40 to 50 minutes, or until the filling is bubbly and the apples are tender. Serve warm or at room temperature

Comments

1. This is really good a la mode with Tofutti vanilla ice cream.


2. The walnuts, obviously, are optional.


3. We often make this when we’ve got some left over pears or apples that are a bit too beat up to put in a lunch sack but are still good.


4. Since cranberries are only carried fresh in grocery stores around Thanksgiving, you can buy bags of fresh ones and freeze them. When you’re ready to use them, rinse the amount you need in a strainer under cold water and pat dry. Or you can use cran-raisins as a substitute.