gluten free apple pear and cranberry crisp

There is no question that fall has arrived in the Pacific Northwest. I absolutely love this time of year. You never quite know what to expect here in Oregon. There’s a joke that if you’re unhappy with the weather, wait five minutes.

That’s pretty much how it is. We can have these beautiful days of sunshine and slightly warmed temperatures. And then it can do a 180 and dump buckets of water. So the shift to cooler temps puts me in the mood to bake. But let’s be totally transparent: I’m always in the mood to bake. With the new season of northwest weather, the flavors of fall are on my mind!

The other day I was talking with my mom and she mentioned she had to bring a dessert to her small group from church. Of course, I hear the word “dessert” and I’m all over that. I offered to whip something up. I still had a few pears left from our trip to Kiyokawa Orchards and knew they needed to be made into a crisp. I didn’t have enough to fill the whole pan, so I added Honeycrisp apples, and some frozen cranberries. Oh. My. Word. This was the best smelling dessert I’ve ever made. Sometimes you don’t know a dessert tastes good until you eat it. This confirms that half the taste is in the smell!

Next time you need an easy dessert that can feed a crowd, pull out this recipe and knock their socks off.

Gluten Free Apple Pear and Cranberry Crisp

• Author: heidi | fig + fork

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Ingredients

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For the filling

• 4 cups apples, peeled, cored, and cubed
• 2 cups pears, cored and cubed
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 cups frozen cranberries
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon King Arthur Flour Instant ClearJel
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

For the topping

• 1 1/2 cups oats
• 2/3 cup oat flour (ground oats is fine)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
• 2/3 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts

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Instructions

To make the filling

1. Combine sugar and ClearJel in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. Combine apples and pears in a large bowl. Toss with lemon juice.
3. Add the cranberries and toss to combine. Sprinkle sugar mixture over fruit mixture and gently stir to combine.
4. Combine syrup and spices and add to fruit mixture. Use spatula to gently fold ingredients together.
5. Place mixture in 9×11 inch pan, or one large cast iron skillet.

To make topping

1. In a large bowl combine oats, oat flour, brown sugar and salt.
2. Add in chilled butter and using a pastry blender, cut butter into oat mixture. It’s okay if some chunks remain.
3. Add in hazelnuts and toss to combine. Sprinkle topping over filling and bake in a preheated oven for 45-50 minutes or until filling starts to bubble and topping lightly browns.
4. Cool on a wire rack and serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

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Notes

The choice of apples is really up to you. I love honey crisp apples and would choose them over granny smith any day. But there are so many varieties you could use a couple different kinds in this recipe.

You could use flour in place of the ClearJel if you don’t have it. But I personally find it can turn a filling cloudy and detracts from the flavor. If you bake a lot of pies or tarts, I would encourage you to purchase the Clearjel from King Arthur Flour. They also have pie enhancer, which would work here as well. There’s a chart on their website that lists the different types of thickeners and the pros and cons of each.

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