An Endlessly Riffable Fruit Crisp

• servings: 2-4

Ingredients

3 cups roughly chopped fruit

Maple syrup, agave, or honey (optional)

Cornstarch (optional)

1/3 cup (about 5 tablespoons) cold butter, cubed

1/3 cup all-purpose or whole-wheat flour

1/3 cup old-fashioned oats

1/3 cup chopped nuts, raw or toasted (optional but highly recommended)

1/4 cup brown or white sugar

Whipped cream or ice cream, for serving (optional)

Directions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a baking dish that comfortably fits your volume of fruit.

lf your fruit is super sweet, place it directly into the baking dish. If it's a little underripe or tart, put the fruit inabowl, drizzle with a little sweetener, and gently toss to combine. If your fruit is excessively juicy, sprinkle it with abit of cornstarch and mix thoroughly in a bowl to help thicken the juices. Transfer the fruit to the baking dish.

Put the butter, flour, oats, nuts (if using), and sugar in a bowl and use your fingers to break up the butter cubes and rub them into the flour and sugar until everything is well combined. Scatter over the fruit and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until the crumbly topping is golden brown and the juices are bubbling up. Serve as is, or with a scoop of something cold and creamy.

Notes

Source: Perfectly Good Food, by Margaret Li and Irene Li

We consider this crisp the perfect use-it-up dessert recipe. Got a bounty of summer berries on your hands? Were you a little overzealous with the apple picking or have a few leftover apple slices from your kids' snack? Note that the butter, flour, oats, and nuts are used in equal amounts, so it's easy to scale up or down depending on whether you need to use up just a few pears or a whole bucket of raspberries. Combine any fruits you like based on what you have in the kitchen-favorites in Mei's house have been plum-mango and pear-apricot, While Irene is a sour cherry die-hard. You can compensate for less-sweet fruit by adding a sweetener like honey or maple syrup and soak up excess liquid with a sprinkle of cornstarch or flour, but we typically leave out both.