As I mentioned last week, during the month of November we were given flexibility to make the chosen recipes for TWD out of order due to the busy nature of this time of year. This week I decided to make the easiest of the November recipe for TWD – the cran-apple crisps, which were chosen by Em of The Repressed Pastry Chef.
Prepping the crisps takes no time at all. The topping is whirled in a food processor and can be made a few days ahead of time and chilled until the crisps are assembled. I quartered the recipe so I was able to make the topping in my mini prep. (I try to use the mini prep whenever possible instead of my full size food processor because it takes up far less space in the dishwasher!) The filling for the crisps is apples, fresh cranberries and either raisins or dried cranberries (I used raisins). The fruit filling is tossed with sugar and flour and split between several ramekins before the topping is added and the crisps are popped in the oven. A quarter recipe yielded two 7-oz ramekins and a 5-oz ramekin for me. I prepped the crisps and threw them in the freezer to be baked off for an occasional weeknight dessert treat.
I baked one of my ramekins to taste and photograph for this post. I’m a huge fan of crisps and I don’t think I’ve met a crisp I didn’t like. That said, this was not my favorite crisp recipe. While I generally enjoy fresh cranberries, I thought they made the filling too tart in this crisp. When I bake the remaining crisps I’ll probably add some sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream on top before serving.
Thanks to Em for hosting the cran-apple crisps! Em posted the recipe for the crisps on her site or you can find it in Dorie’s book. If you’d like to check out some of the other TWD recipes for the month of November, visit our blogroll.
Lemon Bars
Glazed Grapefruit Cake
Orange Sherbet
Meyer Lemon Pound Cake
Your pictures are gorgeous but that middle one is over the top.
Your crisps look wonderful. I wondered about the tartness of these, as I am not a huge cranberry fan. Sweetened whipped cream sounds like a great way to top these off!
Oooo beautiful!! I am making this next week and can’t wait 😉 I made the cookies this week and they were fabulous!
Yummy pictures! It’s funny about the tart thing. I don’t usually love crisps all that much because the filling is usually too sweet. The bite I tried of these was tart and I thought it was better than way. Kinda funny.
Ice cream would probably fix that for sure.
Looks great Tracey!
Looks gorgeous, and very fun in that little ramekin. I just loved all the colors in this one. Unlike you, I really liked the sweet/tart combination and thought it was a sort of sweet/sour effect that pleases my palate immensely. This is a keeper around here. I have made two of them so far.
Looks wonderful, Tracey. I’m sure ice cream would be helpful for those tarts in the freezer. :o)
gorgeous photos, now I am craving for an apple crisp! I wish I can have yours
Definitely vanilla ice cream with these! :)Lovely pictures, I can almost smell the brown sugar and cinnamon through my computer.
What a lovely color. It’s so vibrant and fresh. You’re making me jealous, we don’t have cranberries or even frozen ones. 🙂 Maybe we do but they’re worth like gold.
Your crisps look great! I haven’t made this yet; I think I’ll like the tart cranberries, but I’m not sure about my husband.
OMG OMG YES! Am I the only one who was madly in love with the cran-apple dessert that came in the Swanson turkey dinners? I haven’t had one in years, but I recall not liking anything else in there, but the cran-apple dessert was worth it! I want to make this immediately!
I love the tartness cranberries give to a sweet dessert. This sounds wonderful.
I’m always looking for ways to get around pulling out the big food processor, too. It’s so hard to clean (though I’ve learned to stretch a piece of plastic wrap underneath the entire lid so at least the top stays clean — but that doesn’t work if you need to use the pour spout). Anyway, I highly recommend adding ice cream to this. It adds a lot!
That spoonful of crisp is OUTSTANDING!!! Sorry it was too tart, maybe use sweeter apples??
I am so looking forward to making this – with nilla ice cream. tonite. with pot pie.
I love the way your crisp looks – great picture of the bite with all the fruit. Vanilla ice cream definitely mellowed out the crisp’s flavors. I loved the tartness of the 2 kinds of cranberries, so I kept pushing the ice cream aside so I could taste the crisp by itself!
Your crisp looks delicious. I love the colors. Good to know about the tartness. I’m planning on making these next weekend. These would be perfect with some ice cream.
Your crisp looks great! Too bad it wasn’t your favorite, but I know ice cream will make it all better.
Hmmm – my crisp was too sweet, and yours was too tart. Well, ice cream will make it all better. 🙂
What a great dessert!
The crisp looks yummy! I can attest that they were fantastic with vanilla ice cream. It’s funny, I enjoyed this recipe, but I think there are a lot of other crisp/crumble recipes I’d make again before this one.
Beautiful, delicious photos!
I can just smell it already. I am making these next week!
This crisps sound delicious with cranberry and apple, a perfect autumn dessert!
What a great idea to freeze some ready to go! I’d say yes, for sure have ice cream! I haven’t made this one yet, but everything just seems to scream ice cream! 😉 Your crisp looks great!
i guess tartness is just a preference. i used to looooove sweet stuff but there’s just something about the tartness of the cranberries against the sweetness of the apples that hooked me.
and i melted my butter and tossed it with a fork, no dirty processor to clean 😉 and the topping came out great!
Looks great.
I made these today too, only I added caramel and walnuts and didn’t put in cranberries.
These look amazing! Beautiful pics! Too bad it wasn’t your favorite. Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about cranberries in my apple crisp…
-Amy
http://www.singforyoursupperblog.com
I am making this for Thanksgiving dessert and may cut back on the cranberries based on your experience. Looks great though!
I had the same problem with a similar dessert, the cranberries with the apples came out too tart…the next time I sub’d the apples with pears and it seemed to help…but I agree with the ice cream, gotta have that…
Lovely! I can’t wait to taste the cranberries in this dish.
I love cranberries, so I loved the flavor of the crisp. That said, I agree with you — it’s a really tart filling! I think I’d add a little more sugar, or even some honey and orange zest, next time. It looks wonderful, though!
Im making this next week..I may add pears in place of the cranberries..I won’t like it if it’s to tart. That said… your crisp looks so good and I would eat it in a heartbeat!
i agree – i don’t think i’ve ever met a crisp i didn’t like 😉 great job it looks delish
That’s so pretty and delicious! I can’t wait to try it!
mmmm, i have to eat crisps with vanilla icecream next time, great idea! I like how the juices of the fruit bubbled onto the ramekin
Oh, sorry to hear that it wasn’t your favorite crisp… I loved this one, but I did pear with no cranberries – I made it before my massive cranberry purchase. I’m sure some whipped cream will do the trick, is there anything it can’t fix?
Your crisp looks great, Tracey! I made ice cream to go with mine, and it’s a really good combo (eating some now, in fact). I learned two new things from your post. It honestly never occurred to me that I could put my food processor bowl in the dishwasher. I seldom use it because I hate washing it. And I didn’t even notice that raisins were an option instead of the dried cranberries. The cranberries were good, but I just love raisins with apples.
The cranberries definitely do make this sweet/tart, and ice cream does mellow it!
Your crisp looks fantastic – I’d agree with you on using the miniprep, but I might have to try this one full-size. Good to know about the tartness, too – I would love that, but my husband and daughter might wrinkle their noses.
Wow, these look fantastic! I haven’t made this one yet but love the idea of sticking them in the freezer for an impromptu dessert. Sounds like sweetening it up or adding ice cream is the way to make this one even better!
Your crisp looks great!!!! Good to know the cranberry addition was a bit too tart…maybe Ill use less when i make this! The topping looks delicious though!
Lovely and easy dessert! I think my favorite crisps are ones that involve apples, so it’s the perfect time of year to build on that with other seasonal treats!
they look great to me! and i can attest that a little ice cream is fab with these!
Wow this looks amazing!
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