sunday supper: apple crisp

It's bad timing that just as the holiday season kicks off and our sunny presence is requested at a zillion social functions, I start moving into my hibernation mode. It's cold, it's snowy, it's dark too early, and I just want to sleep. I'm trying to strike the balance between the enforced socializing and the hiding away, but even then I feel busy and haven't had much time to cook. Last night, strangely enough, J-Cat even made dinner and I just handled dessert. Actually, to be more accurate, J-Cat made breakfast, he just made it at 7PM. He has become the king of omelets, he's really quite good at them, and made a delicious omelet with goat cheese and sauteed spinach and onions. Delicious. I went for something pretty simple with an Apple Cranberry Crisp.



Crisps are a perfect stand-in for pie when you're just too lazy to make pie crust. I kept this one really simple, with just oats, flour, brown sugar and butter making the topping. The oat-y flavor was perfect comfort food on our first snowy day of the season, and the smell made the whole house cozy. Recipe after the jump:

APPLE CRANBERRY CRISP

Ingredients
4-5 medium baking apples, peeled and sliced thin (I used Cortland)
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt

FOR THE TOPPING:
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 tbsp room temperature unsalted butter
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preparation
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, combine apples, cranberries, sugar, lemon juice, and salt. Toss to combine well and set aside while you assemble the topping. In another bowl, combine oats, sugar and flour and toss to combine. Using a pastry cutter or a fork, break up the butter into the oat mixture evenly. In a 1.5 quart greased baking dish, pour the apple mixture and spread evenly. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the fruit. Lightly dust the top with cinnamon. Bake in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes until the top is browned and crisp and the juices are bubbling. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.