Belated Happy Thanksgiving! and Apple Pear Ginger Crisp {Recipe}

Oops, ignore that goofy headline (if you saw it) – my new track pad has a mind of its own!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and was able to spend quality time with family and friends!  My tasks yesterday included baking butternut squash rolls and dessert.  The dessert was a hit – the rolls… umm, a little less so.  I’ve made the rolls several times and they are 100% fabulous when the recipe is followed, but I sometimes get a little overzealous in my attempts to modify.  If it ain’t broke folks, don’t fix it.  So on to this dessert… while I love pie, I knew I wouldn’t have time this year to deal with crust making, etc., and I wanted to make use of my slow-cooker since the food would be traveling a short distance in cold weather.  While it takes awhile to bake, this apple pear ginger crisp is easy to throw together and a great option for those who can’t have lactose or dairy (just skip the butter – Fleischmann’s unsalted margarine is lactose-free and Earth Balance sticks are dairy-free).  Modified from a recipe over at ‘What’s Gaby Cooking’, it turned out beautifully… and I think it tasted even better today!

Why should you make this instead of plain apple crisp?  My comparison is this – fresh apple juice tastes really good, right?  Well, when winter rolls around, spiced apple cider tastes even better.  This, friends, is the apple cider of apple crisps.

Apple Pear Ginger Crisp

Filling:

• 4 apples (I used 3 honeycrisp & 1 pink lady)

• 2 larger or 3 small pears (I used 1 Bosc & 1 D’anjou)

• 2 Tbsp lemon juice

• 2 Tbsp crystallized ginger, chopped finely

• 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

• 1/4 Cup (minus 1 Tbsp) granulated sugar

Topping:

• 2/3 Cup lightly packed brown sugar

• 2/3 Cup rolled oats

• 3/4 Cup flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1/2 Cup unsalted butter or margarine

How-to (slow-cooker method):

• Peel, core, and chop up your apples and pears (I usually chop into very small pieces, but this is a matter of personal preference).

• In large bowl (or directly in your slow-cooker if you wish), stir apples and pears with lemon juice, crystallized ginger, cinnamon and sugar until all fruit is coated.  Place into your slow-cooker (if you didn’t mix it up in there) forming an even layer across the bottom.

• In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the dry topping ingredients (save the butter/marg. until later), making sure to break up any lumps in the brown sugar.

• Evenly spread your mixed dry topping ingredients on top of the fruit in your slow-cooker.

• Cut your butter or margarine into small cubes and evenly layer them on top of your dry topping layer.

• Secure the lid on your slow-cooker, placing several (3-4) layers of paper towels underneath the lid.  This is optional (and at your own risk), but it seems to catch much of the condensation that forms under the lid, keeping the topping from getting too moist.

• Set the slow-cooker on low, and leave it be for 2-3 hours.  At this point, I checked it and the fruit was simmering, but the butter on top had not yet melted completely.  So, I took a fork and poked some holes through the butter to let some of the heat from below escape and turned the setting to high for about an hour, then back to low for a short time.  Basically, this is a ‘you’ll know when it’s done’ kind of thing – you should definitely hear the fruit bubbling, and all of the butter on the topping should be melted and baked in.  (Next time I make it, I’ll note the timing a little better for you precision bakers!)

• Enjoy plain or with ice cream (sooo good with Trader Joe’s vanilla soy ice cream!)

How-to (oven method):

Since I haven’t tried this in the oven, I can’t be super specific, except to tell you to follow the slow-cooker instructions, placing your ingredients in a 9×9 baking dish rather than a slow-cooker.  The only modification I would suggest is pre-combining the butter in your topping.  Cut the butter into the dry ingredients using a fork, until crumbly.  Sprinkle topping evenly on top of your fruit layer.  Bake at 350 degrees until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden and appears done.  Time-wise, the original recipe suggests 45-50 minutes, but it’s always good to peek a bit sooner!

Other ideas:  If you are a fan of nuts, you might try mixing in some pecans with your topping!  Leftovers – great on waffles or pancakes!

Don’t forget… a couple more days to enter the holiday mini-ornament/magnet giveaway.  Enter by midnight CST 11/31; winner will be contacted on Monday Dec. 1st!

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