ATK Apple-Raspberry Crisp
Desserts
Ingredients
GATHER YOUR INGREDIENTS
Topping Mixture
6 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon table salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled
¾ cup pecans or whole almonds, chopped coarse (or chopped fine if mixing topping by hand)
Fruit
5 cups apples (apples have been peeled, cored, and cut into one-inch chunks), about 3 medium Granny Smith and 2 medium McIntosh
1 cup fresh raspberries, rinsed
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon grated lemon zest from 1 lemon
Description
We tried everything from Grape-Nuts to cookie crumbs as a topping for our fruit crisp recipe, and found the ideal topping mixture to be chopped nuts and flour. Cutting the butter into the flour is crucial in creating a crisp topping, and we found that a food processor was ideally suited to producing a mixture that resembles crumbly wet sand. We departed from traditional fruit crisp recipes by deciding against the use of a thickener for the fruit; letting the juices flow resulted in a much brighter, cleaner fruit taste. Only plums, which tend to be very juicy, needed a tablespoon of tapioca for thickening
Directions
For the Topping: Place flour, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in food processor workbowl fitted with steel blade. Add chilled butter and pulse until mixture moves from dry sand-like appearance with large lumps of butter to a coarse cornmeal texture, about three 4-second bursts. Add nuts and pulse until mixture resembles crumbly sand, about five 1-second bursts. Do not overprocess or mixture will take on a smooth, cookie-dough-like texture. (To mix by hand, allow butter pieces to sit at room temperature for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, mix flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in medium bowl. Add butter; toss to coat. Pinch butter chunks and dry mixture between fingertips until mixture looks like crumbly wet sand. Add nuts and toss to distribute evenly. Do not overmix.) Refrigerate mixture while preparing fruit, at least 15 minutes.
Toss cut apples, raspberries, sugar, lemon juice, and zest in medium bowl.
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Scrape fruit mixture with rubber spatula into 8-inch square (2 quart) baking pan or 9-inch round deep dish pie plate. Distribute chilled topping evenly over fruit; bake for 40 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees; bake until fruit is bubbling and topping is deep golden brown, about 5 minutes longer. Serve warm or at room temperature.