This Spiced Apple Cranberry Crisp is warm and cozy. A comforting dessert for a cold winter night.
Well, y’all, the new year is almost upon us. It’s a time of year reserved for reflecting, taking stock of our lives, and looking forward to the future, which is exactly what we’re doing this week for #SundaySupper.
I’ve never been very good at resolutions. Well actually, I take that back. I’m pretty great at making resolutions, I’m just terrible at keeping them.
Like most people I’ve often made lists of things I want to do better in the new year. Mine were always pretty standard–Eat healthy! Exercise more! Keep the house clean! Volunteer more!
I had great intentions, but they usually only lasted about 2 weeks before slipping from my conscious.
Over the years, I’ve found my resolutions only made me feel guilty when I discovered them sometime mid-February crumpled up in the back of the still-unorganized junk drawer.
So this year, I’ve decided not to challenge myself to do more or be better. For me, these self-imposed commands just aren’t motivating. Instead, I’m challenging myself to embrace the imperfect. I’m challenging myself to be gracious–with myself and with others. I’m challenging myself to live in the moment and love it for what it is, not what I think it should be. And that applies to so many areas of my life–from loving my body even if it has more soft spots than I’d like to loving my blog even when the stats say it’s not doing as well as I think it should be.
If the past few months of craziness have taught me anything, it’s that grace and beauty and laughter can still be found in the midst of life’s hardest and messiest moments. And instead of wishing away those moments, I want to choose to accept them and learn from them. I suppose you could say I’m challenging myself to be content, in whatever stage I find myself. It’s perhaps the hardest “resolution” I’ve ever made, but I like to think of it more as a work in progress. The dawning of a new year is just a dot on the journey.
Weeeeell, enough of this shmaltzy schmaltz, let’s talk about the recipe! After all the extravagant food, gift exchanges, and parties are past, I find myself longing for the classics. This Spiced Cranberry Apple Crisp is comforting and familiar, like settling in for coffee with an old friend. In fact, the recipe for the crisp comes from an old college friend of mine, the lovely Melanie of Adorkable Recipes.
This apple crisp is indeed a classic. The spices are warm and comforting, and it has just the right amount of buttery oatmeal crumb topping. I added the cranberries to give it some festive color and that pop of tang. This is a dish best served warm with a scoop of ice cream, shared with the ones you love most in the world.
Friends, I couldn’t let this year slip away without thanking all of you for making 2013 the most exciting one yet for Neighborfood. I’ve been so excited to see this little space grow. Thank you for reading and cooking and baking right along with me. It’s been so fun to get to know some of you better this year, and I look forward to sharing so much more in 2014! Wishing you and yours a joyful New Year!
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Apple Cranberry Crisp Recipe
Ingredients
For the topping:
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (softened and cut in small chunks)
- 3/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the apples:
- 8 firm, sweet-tart apples (about 8 cups peeled and chopped)
- 3 cups fresh or frozen cranberries (see note)
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 3 Tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Zest of 1 orange
- 2 Tablespoons fresh orange juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with butter or non-stick cooking spray.
- Make the topping. In a bowl, mix together the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add the butter and use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour until small crumbs form. You can also use a pastry cutter to do this if you prefer. Refrigerate the crumb while you make the apple filling.
- Place the apples and cranberries in the prepared baking dish, then sprinkle with sugar, flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, orange zest, and orange juice. Toss well to combine then spread evenly over the pan.
- Pour the crumb topping evenly over the apples and cranberries. Bake for 45 minutes. If the top is getting too browned, loosely cover it with foil, then return to the oven for 5-10 minutes. Uncover and bake a final 5 minutes to ensure the crumbs are crisp.
Notes
- If using frozen cranberries, do not thaw them before adding them to the filling.
- Some of my favorite baking apples are Jonagold, Braeburn, Pink Lady, and Honeycrisp.
- At 45 minutes, the crumbs are usually done, but I find the apples often need the extra 10-15 minutes to fully soften. The filling should be very bubbly and crimson colored.
Equipment
Nutrition
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Recipe adapted from Adorkable Recipes
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