Winter Fruit Crisp Topping (Printable)
Seasonal winter fruits baked with a golden oat topping for a cozy, comforting dessert.
# What You'll Need:
→ Fruit Filling
01 - 2 large apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
02 - 2 large pears, peeled, cored, and sliced
03 - 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
04 - 1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
05 - 1/3 cup granulated sugar
06 - 2 tablespoons lemon juice
07 - 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
08 - 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
09 - 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
→ Crisp Topping
10 - 3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
11 - 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
12 - 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
13 - 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
14 - 1/4 teaspoon salt
15 - 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and diced
16 - 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
# How To Make It:
01 - Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch square baking dish thoroughly.
02 - In a large bowl, mix apples, pears, cranberries, dried apricots, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and flour until fruits are evenly coated.
03 - Transfer the coated fruit mixture into the prepared baking dish and spread uniformly.
04 - In a separate bowl, stir together oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Incorporate cold diced butter by rubbing with fingers or a pastry blender until coarse crumbs form. Fold in nuts if using.
05 - Evenly sprinkle the crumbly topping over the fruit layer.
06 - Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes until topping is golden brown and the fruit filling is bubbling.
07 - Let cool slightly before serving warm. Optionally accompany with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
# Tips from dashanddishes:
01 -
- The fruit filling practically makes itself while your oven does all the heavy lifting for a golden, crunchy topping.
- It's the kind of dessert that tastes fancy enough for holiday gatherings but simple enough to throw together on a random Tuesday night.
- Warm fruit, buttery crumble, maybe a scoop of vanilla ice cream—it's genuinely hard to mess up.
02 -
- Don't skip the flour in the fruit filling or you'll end up with a weeping, soupy disaster at the bottom of your baking dish.
- Rubbing cold butter into the topping mixture is what creates that crispy, crumbly texture; if your butter is soft, the topping will be dense and cake-like instead.
03 -
- If your topping is browning too quickly but the fruit isn't bubbling yet, tent it loosely with foil for the last ten minutes of baking.
- For a gluten-free version, swap the flours for certified gluten-free varieties and use gluten-free oats; the result is nearly identical and no one will notice the difference.