Healthy Fruit Crisp
By
I think that making a fruit crisp is one of the easiest desserts to make. But that may be because of a little short-cut I like to take. Hey, I’m all for making special treats and doing it the lazy easy way.
Here’s my trick: You know how a fruit crisp has a “crumb topping”? All the recipes I’ve seen say to “add all the dry ingredients together” then “cut in the butter until the mixture resembles course crumbs”. I am REALLY not a fan of “cutting in the butter” in any recipe. It takes extra effort and makes an extra mess and now that I am all grown up and not in Home-Ec class anymore, I have become a butter cutter inner rebel. I believe we should all take a stand against things we feel strongly about. And so, I hereby stand firm on my belief and I refuse to cut in butter.
I hope you can still respect me after that confession. If you still choose to cut in your butter, we can still be friends.
As a replacement (aka lazy) option to cutting the butter into the dry ingredients in a fruit crisp, I have chosen to simply MELT the butter and stir it into the oat and flour mixture. I KNOW. And check it out…I have still made crumbs:
I love this fruit crisp recipe because you can use any fruit you want. This time, I made peach fruit crisp because it just so happens that I got to go pick some lovely peaches at my friend Kim’s house. Depending on the kind of fruit you use, you may want to add more sucanat (sugar), but I’ll leave that up to you!
Healthy Fruit Crisp
5 cups sliced fruit (apples, peaches, pears, cherries, blueberries or a combination of all)
2 Tablespoons sucanat or brown sugar
Stir the fruit together with the sucanat and place in a small baking dish (8×8 inch).
Make your Crumb Topping…
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup sucanat or brown sugar
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/4 cup butter (MELTED, for Pete’s sake)
1/4 cup chopped nuts or coconut flakes (also optional)
Mix together oats, sucanat, flour and cinnamon. Stir in melted butter and joy upon joy, it creates crumbs with little to no effort. Add nuts or coconut flakes.
Sprinkle crumb topping over fruit. Bake in a 375° for 30-35 minutes or until fruit is tender and topping is golden brown.
If you’ve made and canned Apple Pie Filling, just dump it into your baking dish, sprinkle on your crumb topping and bake. SO easy!
I just have to know…are you a butter cutter inner, or a butter cutter inner rebel like me? Never thought about it before? Yeah, I figured I was the weird one with butter cutter inner issues.
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I tried this tonight and it was fantastic! Thanks for sharing!
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I thought I was the only one in the world who hates to cut in butter. I was too ashamed to tell anyone. Actually it made me dislike making fruit crisps. No More! Blessings to you.
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Just made this! So easy and SO GOOD! I’m linking this to my blog!
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You posted something about a make ahead streussel topping to put in the freezer. My question is when you make a large batch and put it in the freezer, do you add the butter at that time, or do you wait and add that when you use it from the freezer?
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Laura Reply:
November 4th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
Yes, I add the butter before freezing it. I make it all up so that it’s ready to add to a pie or crisp or whatever!
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I just made this tonight. This was my first ever apple crisp and it was fantastic!! Thank you so much! By the way…I love your website!
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This looks great!…and EASY! I have some apples & pears that need to be used up ASAP, I think I’ll make this with them :)
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Ohhhh…. That looks so good!!!!!
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I made this using strawberries as the fruit tonight and served it with vanilla bean ice cream….. It was a HUGE hit. Amazing!!
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Used fresh peaches and blueberries. In the oven right now and the house smells WONDERFUL. Can hardly wait. Thanks for shareing your recipe.
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this post made my day! Really love the passion behind the confession :-)
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I grate the butter and toss with the dry ingredients. It’s easier than using a pastry blender.
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I hate cutting in butter too! I’ll use my food processor for some recipes or my fingers in a recipe like the but I just put it in the oven with your melted version! Mmmm….
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Thanks for the super cheater recipe! I was given a jar of homemade apple pie filling. My people don’t really like the pie part of pie. I’ve also skipped recipes that say “cut in the butter”. So this is a perfect way to use the homemade gift and avoid cutting butter! :)
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I’m a rebel for sure. I hate cutting in butter. It just clumps up and makes my life miserable. I am loving your website, your recipes and your lovely sense of humor. My husband and 4 boys are enjoying the recipes too. This is my first attempt at cooking with only whole foods. Thanks for the help.
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