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Add this cranberry apple crisp recipe to your winter comfort dessert rotation for fabulous flavor, and keeping things easy.

I’m a big fan of an easy dessert, and while making a fruit crisp sometimes involved peeling and chopping, I still consider this an easy dessert, because the topping is an easy recipe to memorize, and get down pat, and the fruit combinations are endless. This is one of the most versatile dessert recipes you will ever find!

I use this topping through every season, changing the fruit throughout, and making small changes in the crisp to suit the fruit. For instance, most fruits work well with cinnamon, but in others, like peach crisp, are delicious with a little cloves added as well. Most fruits also pair well with some pecans or walnuts added as well. Usually, I like to omit spices in blueberry crisp. You can see more fruit crisp recipes here.

This apple cranberry crisp works well with all of these hearty fall spices and nuts, so you can change it up to suit your taste.

With that said, here are the basic ingredients:

Ingredients for Cranberry Apple Crisp

Rolled oats. You can also use a combination of quick-cooking oats and rolled oats, or just quick oats for a more tender, less chewy crisp.
All purpose flour. This recipe is easily made gluten-free by using a combination of gluten-free flours. It’s really important to remember however, not to use a premade mix that contains starch. It’s best to buy individual flours, such as rice, sorghum, or millet. I like to use a combination, to balance the flavors.
White sugar. For sweetener, you can also use brown sugar, or evaporated cane juice. Both work equally well, and change the flavor minimally.
Brown sugar. While it’s easy to swap the white for more brown, I don’t recommend swapping the brown for white. Brown sugar adds a nice flavor to your crisp, that would be sorely missed if it were removed.
Butter. This tied all of your crisp topping ingredients together, and is the key to making your crisp crisp.
Cranberry sauce. I like to use whole berry sauce for presentation, as well as I think having a while berry creates a nice burst of flavor. You can also use fresh cranberries, but I prefer the way cranberry sauce blends into the apples to make a cohesive filling. You can also use homemade cranberry jam.
Apples. I usually use whatever I have on hand after scavenging the discount produce bins, and really like fuji or honeycrisp apples in this. They have a nice sweetness that balances out the tart cranberries. If I’m buying apples specifically for baking however, I’ll usually go with granny smith apples.
Cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. These spices are optional, but they make your dessert even more delicious, when tossed with the apples before baking.

How to Make Cranberry Apple Crisp

Preheat oven to 350º
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, oatmeal, and sugars, and mix together.
Add softened butter, and combine until the mixture is evenly crumbly.
Set aside, and peel and core apples. Cut into one-inch chunks, and toss with spices if using.
Spread cranberry sauce into the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking pan.
Layer apples over top.
Sprinkle with crumb topping.
Bake in center of oven for 35-40 minutes until topping is golden brown, and apples are tender.
Remove from oven, and serve hot with a dollop of whipped cream, or scoop of vanilla ice cream.

To Store Leftovers

You can store leftovers on the countertop overnight, For longer storage, I recommend covering well, and placing in the refrigerator. To freeze. place in an airtight container, such as these rubbermaid containers, and freeze up to several months. Let thaw in the fridge overnight.

To serve, it is best to let it come to room temperature, or even re-heat in the oven. Cold or frozen crisp is very hard.

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