Fruit Crisp!

When Nick moved in last year,  Ina Garten also moved into our condo.  He brought along a bunch of her cookbooks and set up the DVR to record her show.  However, she has proven to be a great resource on many occasions.  Even better, her show has taught me a lot of good basics (that I probably should have already known!).  So when I needed a good basic recipe for a crisp, I looked no further than at Ina!

Ina Garten

In our CSA for two weeks we got a ton of plums, ground cherries and apples.  Having already made the Plum Clafoutis and the Ground Cherry Pie, I was looking for something different.  I figured a crisp was a great way to combine a lot of these fresh fruits.  Even better, we had a friend's house to go to that evening with plenty of hungry mouths to feed.

Fruit Crisp

The Necessities (Recipe adapted from the Plum Crunch in  Ina's Back to Basics)


For the inside goodness...

• About 2 pounds of fruit
• Ground Cherries
• Plums
• Apples
• 1 3/4 cup of dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of flour

For the Crispy Topping...

• 1 1/2 cup of flour
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• salt
• 1 1/2 cup of oatmeal (save the extra 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 chopped walnuts
• 2 sticks of cold butter

Having learned that ground cherries are very liquidy I decided to cook them a bit beforehand.  To begin, I husked the ground cherries.

Ground Cherries

I put the ground cherries on a baking sheet in the oven at about 375 degrees for about 8 minutes - until they softened up.

Ready for the oven

While the ground cherries were in the oven I set to cutting up the plums.  These were the nice little ones - Italian prune plums I believe.  I cut each one into about 6 pieces.

Sliced Plums

Once those were sliced I set out on the apples - I just used a variety of apple types (whatever we had on hand).

Apples!

All Sliced

I combined the apples and plums into a large bowl and gave it a bit of a stir.  I then added the brown sugar and flour to the top.

Sugar!

Using a wooden spoon I stirred in the sugar and flour, making sure that the sugar came into contact with each piece of fruit.  From there I dumped the sugary goodness into a shallow baking dish.  During the cutting, I had taken the ground cherries out of the oven and allowed them to cool for a bit.  They were nice and smushy with plenty of liquid spilling out onto the baking sheet.

Nicely Smushed

Using a slotted spoon I sprinkled the cherries on top of the plums and apples in the baking dish.

Sugary Fruit!

After the fruit was all set, I grabbed a medium sized bowl and combined the flour, white and brown sugars, and salt.  Using a pastry blender I cut the butter into the dry ingredients.

Almost there....

I kept cutting until the the mixture was nice and crumbly - pea sized.  Once it was the right consistency I added the oatmeal and the walnuts and stirred it completely.

Almost there...

Fully mixed

Once mixed up, I poured the topping onto the fruit mixture - making sure it was spread evenly.  I sprinkled the extra half a cup of oatmeal over the top ensuring a crispy topping.

Ready for the oven

Once set, I put the dish in the 375 degree oven and allowed it to cook for about 50 minutes - until the top was nice and crispy and the juices were bubbling.

Hot and Steamy

Bubbling Fruit Juices

I really loved this crisp!  The combination of all the fruits worked so well together.  The apples got soft and tender, the plums were good and mushy, and the ground cherries just added a bit of sweetness to the bite.  The combination of the fruits' textures was delicious with the crispy crunchy topping.  The oatmeal and walnuts were my favorite part of the crispy topping.

A good, warmed, fruit crisp served with a bit of ice cream really does make an evening perfect!