Cran-Apple Crisps

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was selected by Em of The Repressed Pastry Chef. She selected Cran-Apple Crisps which are miniature apple crisps with fresh and dried cranberries. Check out Em's blog for the complete recipe. This is such a perfect recipe and the timing was just right. My local grocery stores have just started carrying fresh cranberries.

Apple crisp is right up there at the top of my lists of favorite desserts. I was so excited to make this since I love apple crisp so much. I like cranberries, too, so I figured that would be a good addition. They grow cranberries in Washington State, near the ocean, and a couple of summers ago my husband and I visited a working cranberry farm. It was very interesting. They harvest the fruit by flooding the fields and raking up the cranberries. Very hard work, but worth it in my opinion!

Like most crisps, this crisp was very easy to make. You make the crumb topping in the food processor, which is the easiest way to make crumb topping. This crumb topping includes coconut, which is a bit different and very good. The crisp is just apples, cranberries, sugar and a touch of flour. Nothing too unusual, but everything came together so well. I loved this crisp!

I halved the recipe and make 3 crisps. I wasn’t sure which baking vessel to use, but this worked out well. (I usually use these dishes to soften butter in the microwave, so it was nice to use them for something more adventurous.) They baked up perfectly and I wouldn’t change a thing about them. They aren’t too sweet and the cranberries add a good tartness. My husband and I ate these while they were still warm out of the oven and had the same reaction: this is a keeper!

Recipe from Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, page 422.