Flexible fruit crisp

This recipe transforms fruit and a handful of pantry ingredients into a delicious dessert. The ingredients list is very general, and can be modified to suit whatever you have in the kitchen. Just about any fruit will work for a base, and most of the pantry ingredients can be substituted too!

For the crisp topping:

• 1 1/2 cups oats
  
  
• 1 cup flour
  
  
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
  
  
• Pinch of salt
  
  
• Pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg
  
  
• 3/4 cup butter or margarine

For the filling:

• 6 or so cups of fruit (enough to almost fill a baking dish)
  
  
• 1/2 cup white sugar (or more to taste, if fruit is very tart)
  
  
• 1-3 tablespoons cornstarch, depending on juiciness of fruit (optional)
  
  
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (optional)
  
  
• Pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg, or ginger (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350F, and grease a baking pan.
   
   
2. Cut all fruit into bite-sized pieces, and place in large bowl. Toss with sugar, as well as cornstarch, lemon, and spices, if using. Adjust ingredient amounts to taste, and pour into 9x9, or 11x7 inch baking dish.
   
   
3. Stir together flour, oats, sugar, salt and spices (if using). Melt butter in microwave or on the stove. Add butter to dry ingredients, and stir until combined. Sprinkle evenly over fruit in baking dish.
   
   
4. Bake the crisp for around 30 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling.
   
   
5. Remove from the oven and alow to cool around 15 minutes before serving.

• You don't need to add corn starch, but it will help the juices released by the fruit as it bakes thicken up into something closer to pie filling.

• You do want to bake the crisp until the filling is bubbling hot; if you're worried about it boiling over, try putting a baking sheet or aluminum foil on the rack below the baking dish.
  
  
• Crisp topping freezes well. You can make a double batch, seal half of it in a freezer bag, and freeze it for up to three months to make prep even simpler.

• If you don't have oats, just leave them out and make a crumble instead. Instead of melting the butter, mash it into the dry ingredients with your fingers until large clumps form. Sprinkle the crumble topping over your fruit, bake, and enjoy!
  
  
• Fresh, frozen, or canned fruit are both good in this recipe. Just be sure to thaw frozen fruit before using it.
  
  
• This recipe can easily be increased or decreased to fit any size baking dish you have on hand.
  
  
• Fruit crisp is great right out of the oven, especially with ice cream. If also makes an excellent breakfast the next day, or a delicious topping over a bowl of yogurt.

• Cover and keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Recipe adapted from Newmarket Food Pantry

Food is Too Expensive! was funded by the City of Saskatoon through our Healthy Yards partnership, the Cyril Capling Trust Fund of the College of Agriculture and Bioresources, and the Department of Plant Sciences. Focus group research to inform this work was collected by CHEP. Thank you all for helping us make healthy food more accessible!