Easy Stovetop Fruit Crisp Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What fruit is the best in a crisp? ›

Swap in different apples if you don't have Granny Smith, try it with pears, or go for peaches or nectarines in the summer—you can throw some berries in too, she says. Granny Smith apples also star in Tanya Holland's crisp, as "their tartness is delicious with the sweet, crunchy oat-flecked crumb topping."

As fruit cooks, it releases its juices, becoming saucy and soupy. This is partially what makes a crisp so delicious—but also what can turn it from a casserole-style dessert into fruit soup. (Some fruits, like red berries, contain very low amounts of pectin, meaning they won't "set up" without help).

Mixing cornflour through the fruit before you bake the crumble thickens the juices and stops the topping from going soggy.

A crisp is “a type of dessert consisting of fruit baked with a crumble topping,” according to the Oxford English Dictionary's definition, citing an early use in a 1916 recipe for an apple crisp with a topping of butter, sugar, and flour that's mixed together by rubbing your fingertips “*ntil crumbly.” Often, at least ...

So what's a crumble vs. a crisp? A crumble is just a crisp without oats in the streusel. It may feature nuts, but the streusel topping is usually a simple combination of butter, flour, and sugar that is more clumpy than that of a crisp.

Exterior: Cobblers are denser due to the biscuit dough topping and base, while crisps use oats and a streusel topping, making them lighter. Cobbler toppings are also likely not a full layer like a crisp or pie. Instead, the biscuit dough dollops often sit on top as individual biscuits.

A pastry chef friend shared the technique. Instead of sprinkling the raw crumbs on top of the fruit, where they absorb the juices and turn a little mushy on their undersides, he spread them out in a pan and baked them separately, until crisp and cookielike.

Thankfully for us, the folks in their test kitchen came up with a pretty great trick to maintain the crisp factor: they suggest macerating the peach slices (or whatever fruit you're using) with the sugar and salt called for in the recipe (letting them hang out together for awhile to release their sweet juices) and then ...

Use the Right Amount of Butter

Too much butter and your topping will become a greasy blob or disappointingly soggy.

As its name suggests, crumb topping is a dessert topping. It's a simple mixture of butter, sugar, and flour, and is typically used to top pies or muffins prior to baking for a crunchy, sweet contrast.

Why is my crumble topping like dough? ›

This is usually down to the butter being too warm when mixed together. Also, if the ambient temperature is warm, then the butter will soften after the crumble mix is made and cause it to turn into a dough-like consistency. Be sure to use cubed butter straight from the fridge when making the crumble mix.

This is known as oxidation and occurs when the cells within the fruit are exposed to air. Lemon juice helps with this, acting to coat the flesh and protecting it. It also adds extra flavour to your apple crumble recipe and offsets the sweetness of the sugar.

Make the topping by combining the brown sugar, flour, oats, nuts, and spices, then mixing in the soft butter until the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit mixture, shaking the pan to distribute it evenly.

Once the crisp has cooled, cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to three days. If there is only a small amount of crisp left, transfer it to a small airtight container.

Recipe Notes

Storage: Cover and refrigerate leftover crisp for up to 3 days. Enjoy cold for breakfast or gently rewarm in a low oven for 20 minutes before serving.

The best apples for baking keep their structure under heat, which prevents the chunks of fruit from turning into mush after baking. The firm and crisp Granny Smith and Honeycrisp varieties are popular apples to use in apple pies and apple crisps.

Golden Delicious apples get a bad wrap, and that's only because they're not the best for eating out of hand. However, their signature soft, mealy texture makes them the absolute perfect apple for crisps.

Good choices include oranges, blueberries, apples, avocados, and bananas, but there are many more to choose from. Fruits are an excellent source of essential vitamins and minerals, and they are high in fiber. Fruits also provide a wide range of health-boosting antioxidants, including flavonoids.

So, if crunch is such a factor in the apple-eating experience, what are the crunchiest apples? Some may attest that Honeycrisp and Pink Lady® are the crunchiest, while others would shake their heads pointing to Cosmic Crisp® and SweeTango.