Any Fruit Crisp - Mum Bum YUM

Beginnings of a  blueberry-nectarine crisp
What a treat!

My mom is the quintessential fruit crisp and pie maker, bar none. Give her some fruit and quick as can be, we'll be treated to a delicious dessert! I asked her to please write down how she makes her crisps and pies because, of course, she'd never done that (true T'nGG). Instead, she dictated directions to me which I wrote down for our family. (Family recipes are most important. Remember that!) Follow her directions and you will have created one of the most delicious and memorable desserts you've ever bitten into. YUM! (Pie fixin's to come.)

The T'nG (in mom's words):

Heat oven to 400º.

The Filling: Put your fruit of choice in an au gratin dish. Fill until about 1/2" from the top. (This could be unpeeled fresh peaches, nectarines, Italian prune plumbs or other plums. Or apples, fresh blackberries, blueberries, hulled bing cherries, tart cherries (adjust sugar amount accordingly for tartness), a mixture of berries and slices (see above), or rhubarb, rhubarb with strawberries; whatever you like. You can also use frozen fruit. (Citrus isn't appropriate for this.)

The Topping: A rounded 2/3 C. flour, 2/3 C. sugar, 1/2 C. regular oatmeal (not steel-cut). If an apple crisp - add cinnamon; peach or nectarine - add nutmeg; cherry - add almond extract. Put all in a food processor and pulse enough to mix. Add 1/2 - 1 stick cold butter that's been cut into chunks and added a chunk at a time. Pulse until you have a coarse meal. (You can also do this with two forks or a pastry cutter if no food processor is available.) Spread that over the top of the fruit so all is covered. Bake at 400º for about 45 minutes. It's done when the crust on top is getting golden brown and the fruit juices are bubbling up from below. 

You can use any size oven-proof dish, just add amount of fruit and topping accordingly. The larger the dish, the longer it will take to bake. Delicious!

This is the very best baked an hour or two before you want to serve it, so it hot! It's excellent with a dollop of creme fraiche or excellent vanilla ice cream on it. 

P.S. - It's really true - you don't ever need to bother to peel the fruit. Absolutely not necessary - you'll never know the peel is there as it just melts away during baking. Plus, think of the fiber....well, maybe don't think of that....

Just out-of-the-oven peach (no blueberries this time) crisp

~~~

YUM!

till we feast again!

xoabb