Apple & Cranberry Crisp | Comforting Dessert Recipe

Oh my gosh.  When I was making this and the orange zest hit the cinnamon and apples... my kitchen smelled like Fall and Christmas all at the same time.  It was really something else.  I almost left the orange zest out - it would have been a huge mistake.  It absolutely made the dish.



 I made this as part of a really casual dinner we had with friends.  This crisp, along with my Italian Beef & Vegetable Stew was the perfect Fall dinner.

Apple Cranberry Crisp
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Apple Cranberry Filling :

10 apples (4 pounds), cored and peeled

3/4 cup of dried cranberries

2 teaspoons of orange zest

4 tablespoons of orange juice

1/2 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of flour

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

Crumble Topping :

1 1/2 cup of flour

1/2 cup of sugar

1/3 cup of brown sugar

1/2 tsp of salt

1 1/2 stick of butter, cold

Cut the peeled and cored apples to large cubes, about 3/4 inch pieces.  Place them in a large bowl.  Add cranberries, zest, orange juice, sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Toss together with a big spoon until all of the fruit is well coated.  Pour the fruit into a casserole dish or deep baking dish.

For the topping, in a mixer with the paddle attachment, place flour, sugar, brown sugar and salt.  Cut the cold butter into 1/4 inch cubes.  Place the butter in with the flour mixture and mix on medium until the butter incorporates to create and crumbly mixture, about 2 minutes.  Take handfuls of the mixture and top the apples with it.  Cover the top completely. 

If freezing, wrap tightly, label and put it in the freezer.  When you get it our of the freezer, bake for 1:15 - 1:30 at 350 degrees. 

If baking right away, bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

If you're not a cranberry fan, you can easily leave them out and just have an apple crisp, but the tart cranberries make it really special for me.

I soaked the dried cranberries in the orange juice to plump them up a little bit while I made the filling.  As I mentioned, the orange zest really put this over the top.

I peeled and chunked the apples, then added flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Then I added the cranberries in orange juice and tossed it all together.  I used this deep baking dish from Target which worked perfectly... I think it was $10!

I topped it with the crisp mixture of butter, sugar, salt and flour.  It is basically a crumbled buttery sugar cookie on top.  Yum.

Ready for the oven, or fridge/freezer if you're making in advance.

Hot and bubbly!

Gone!

 Here is the easy-to-pin strip!