Apple, Pear & Cranberry Crisp
By Cat, Feb 2008 (Photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons)
See also: 1. Cobblers, Crisps & Shortcakes Menu; 2. Pies, Tarts & Turnovers
There is nothing like a fruit crisp as dessert, any time of the year; but this one is made with a vegetable that is used like a fruit in many popular recipes. Because rhubarb is quite tart, a fair amount of sweetener must be used. For this reason, I prefer to use stevia, but I provide other options that I have not yet tested.
Rhubarb Crisp
This is my own invention, using the basics of my Rhubarb Pie filling recipe with a traditional streusel topping, to which I add a bit of rolled oats, and sweeten with stevia. However, I see a very similar recipe on the Fine Cooking.com website: Rhubarb Crumble (1)
Subsequent to my 2008 testing, I’ve gotten better at presoaking grains. I now prepare topping as written, including cutting in the butter. Then I mix 1 tsp plain yogurt with 1 – 2 tsp warm water and stir that mix into the topping mixture, adding more water if too dry, 1/2 tsp at a time (it should just be able to hold a ball shape without crumbling out). Then form into a ball and wrap in waxed paper, set in bowl and cover with towel to soak overnight. Next day, I break up the ball into crumbles with my fingers.
Another modification might be to use ¼ cup date sugar (ground dates) instead of stevia in the topping. Adding sliced apples to the rhubarb can further decrease the amount of sweetener needed in the filling.
Ingredients & Equipment:
- Filling:
- 3 cups chopped rhubarb
- 2 Tbsp unbleached white flour (or white spelt flour)
- ¾ tsp powdered stevia extract (amount revised from original ½ tsp, per testing); alternately use up to 1 cup Rapadura sugar, but I’ve not tested using sugar)
- ½ powdered ginger
- 2 Tbsp local honey (amount revised form original 1 Tbsp, per testing)
- Topping:
- 6 Tbsp whole wheat or spelt flour
- ¼ cup rolled oats
- ¼ – ⅓ cup Rapadura or date sugar (OR scant ¼ tsp powdered stevia extract plus 2 – 4 tsp Rapadura/date sugar; OR ⅛ tsp powdered stevia extract plus 1 – 2 Tbsp Rapadura/date sugar)
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon (amount revised from original ¼ tsp, per testing)
- ¼ tsp unrefined sea salt
- 6 Tbsp cold butter
- Equipment
- small bowl
- large bowl
- pastry cutter (optional)
- 8″ pie or cake pan
Method:
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly butter the pie pan.
- Filling: Chop rhubarb into ½ inch pieces; set aside in large bowl.
- Mix together flour, stevia (or sugar) and ginger in small bowl. Add to chopped rhubarb and stir well so that the rhubarb is well coated with the flour. Pour into pie pan and drizzle honey over all.
- Topping: Using the same large bowl, combine flour, oats, sweetener(s), cinnamon and salt.
- Cut in the butter to pea-size. Sprinkle topping over the rhubarb. Press lightly.
- Bake in preheated oven 40 – 50 minutes, until topping is browned and rhubarb has softened, with some of the liquid bubbling up into the topping.
Assembly or Serving ideas
- Scoop into dessert dishes and top with lots of whipped cream or ice cream.
Testing:
Testing 6/27/08: made with total of 1 tsp stevia, 2 Tbsp honey and 1 Tbsp sugar, between the filling and topping. I did not use a presoak for the flour & oats. Result was too sweet for my taste. Next time, reduce to total of ¾ tsp stevia and 1 Tbsp honey (eliminate the brown sugar). Also reduce cinnamon to ¼ tsp, in the topping
References
- Fine Cooking, Rhubarb Crumble recipe: (finecooking.com/recipes/rhubarb-brown-sugar-crumble.aspx)
