This is one of the simplest dessert recipes I know. And it’s fast! You can make it using whatever fruit you have on hand; frozen, canned or fresh. I almost always have frozen blueberries or canned pears on hand as we have 4 blueberry bushes and a prolific pear tree. But I’ve done this one with apple or peaches. It’s on my todo list to do apple-cranberry or apple-cherry. I’m not a big fan of cherries but I was watching Lidia Bastianich’s cooking show and she was doing a crisp with dried cherries soaked in brandy, yum!

Now I think my crisp is slightly better than hers, just saying. She doesn’t have as much of the topping as I do. You, however, can modify this to the way you like it. Also, depending on the fruit, you can enhance the flavor (and cut out the sugar) but adding a little fruit liqueur. This can enhance the flavor of the fruit. A couple of tablespoons should do it and the alcohol will cook off.

Now I haven’t tried this yet, but I think it’s totally doable, to make this gluten free. Substitute the wheat flour with gluten free flour, I’m going to try this with almond flour because I think it would lend itself better to this recipe. Enjoy!

Fruit Crisp

• 3 to 4 cups fruit
• 2 to 4 tbsp of sugar (depending on the fruit and how sweet it is)
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour (divided)
• 1 tbsp pumpkin spice
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds (optional)

Directions:

In a medium bowl; combine the fruit, sugar and 1/4 cup of flour. In another bowl combine the oats, brown sugar, 1/4 cup flour, pumpkin spice and butter. Cut in the butter until the mixture is coarse crumbs.

Put the fruit in a baking dish and sprinkle the topping over it evenly. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes or until it’s bubbly and the topping is golden brown.

PS I like to use the pumpkin spice mix, which I make myself, but you can mix it up however you want. Cinnamon, ginger, clove, nutmeg, etc.