For Easter, it was my job to bring dessert. Knowing that my Mother usually makes way too much food, I did not want a heavy, gooey, overly sugary dessert. I wanted something lighter and fruity. And something easy thatI could prepare ahead, but bake at my Mom’s. I decided to modify a Martha Stewart recipe for Sour-Cherry Pistachio Crisp. The original is wonderful, but cherries are hard to find. I use whatever is fresh at the market, which happened to be blackberries and strawberries. I decided that pecans would go nicely. You can substitue any fruit or nut, really. Walnuts would also work well. Here is the recipe that I used…..
1.
3/4 lbs fresh fruit (I halved the strawberries and left the blackberries whole)
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/3 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/4 tsp baking powdersalt6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
3 tbsp light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp cornstartchpinch of ground cinnamon1.
2.
Preheat over to 375 2. Whisk together nuts, flour, oats, baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Put butter, brown sugar and 1/4 cup of granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until creamy.
3.
Stir nut mixture into butter mixture until just combined. Work mixture through your fingers until if forms course crumbs ranging in size from small peas to gumballs; set topping aside.
4.
Stir together fruit, remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar, the cornstarch, cinnamon and a pinch of salt in a medium bowl.Transfer fruit mixture to an 8 inch square baking dish. Sprinkle topping evenly over fruit mixture. Bake until topping turns golden and juices are bubbling, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Let cool on a wire rack for 1 hour before serving.
The best part about this was that Chris was going to ‘help’ me with the prep. I left him in the kitchen while I jumped in the shower. I expected that the fruit would be washed and dried, and the nuts would be chopped. To my surprise this is what I found when I got out of the shower…
All we needed to do was pop it in the oven at my Mom’s and Viola….done! I had every intension of snapping a shot of this when it was done baking, but in between the oohhs and aahhs and the fact that everyone was impressed that he made it… I forgot to take the picture until there was not even a morsel left in the dish. Even the serving spatula was licked clean! Only berry stains remained.
Scoop it into bowls and serve it as is, with a dollop of fresh whipped creamor like we did… with a generous scoop of good vanilla ice cream. Experimenting with this is the most fun! What would be your favorite combinations of fruits and nuts? What have you used before?