the long awaited apple and pear crisp!

TA DA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don’t even know where to begin. I am so glad that I finally got around to making this.

Before we begin, I have to confess something. I totally ate the leftover “topping” that didn’t make it on the filling. Yeah. I ate it. Raw. Butter, flour, & sugar is delicious. Don’t hate the player. Hate the game.

Recipe!

I’m copying the recipe that I used from the food network and then I will discuss the changes that I made.

Ingredients:

Filling:

• 2 pounds ripe Bosc pears (4 pears)
• 2 pounds firm Macoun apples (6 apples)
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Topping:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Peel, core, and cut the pears and apples into large chunks. Place the fruit in a large bowl and add the zests, juices, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Pour into a 9 by 12 by 2-inch oval baking dish.

For the topping:

Combine the flour, sugars, salt, oatmeal, and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed for 1 minute, until the mixture is in large crumbles. Sprinkle evenly over the fruit, covering the fruit completely.

Place the baking dish on a sheet pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until the top is brown and the fruit is bubbly. Serve warm.

Rachel’s Tips:

• Use what you have. I don’t know what kinds of pears and apples  I had but I chopped them up and they were great.
• I also only used the juice from tangerines, again, because it’s what I had
• You don’t have to make as much as the recipe says. I only had three pears and three apples, I adjusted everything else based on the amount of fruit.
• As you are dicing the fruit toss them in the citrus juice, this will keep them from turning brown while you work
• Make sure you have a large enough dish for your crisp. I learned this the hard way and  I knew it was going to be a problem going in. As my crisp was crisping, the filling was bubbling and spilled over the edge of the pan onto the burner in my oven and well… burned. If this happens, put a large sheet of tinfoil under the pan to catch the drips so that your apartment does not smell like burnt sugar.
• The recipe says to use cold butter, I would use slightly softened butter. I got impatient and used my bare hands to mix the topping together.  Beware, sugar and butter are delicious together!
• Have fun, this is a very easy recipe to tweak to your liking. If you don’t like nutmeg just use cinnamon or vice versa. It will need some spice to it, so find something that you like of the sweet spices variety or really play up the citrus flavor!

Enjoy!