Apple and pear crisp

Not that I would know, but sometimes you just feel snotty. Either your head is so congested that you just want to be deep under the covers or you feel disheartened that you haven’t found your dream job yet … snotty is as snotty does.

One of the reasons I watch so much Food Network is because it calms me. Watching people prepare beautiful dishes is nearly as comforting as doing the cooking myself. That’s why I love the soothing voices of Ina Garten and Giada over the too-harsh Emeril or Rachael Ray (I prefer the Rachael Ray magazine).

I recently watched the Barefoot Contessa make a yummy-looking apple-pear crisp and I thought, ‘Perhaps that’s just what the doctor ordered,’ if I had health insurance and could afford to visit the Dr.

It was nummy. The combo of apples and pears with spices will make your house smell like fall. The added citrus zests really give it a gourmet flavor, too. And that crust? Well, the secret’s in the crust, my friends!

Here’s how to make it…

2 lbs. firm pears, such as bosc, peeled, cored and cut into chunks

2 lbs. apples, such as gala, peeled, cored and cut into chunks

1 tsp. orange zest

2 T fresh orange juice

1 tsp. lemon zest

2 T fresh lemon juice

1/2 c. sugar

1/4 c. flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350. Mix the above ingredients together in a bowl and pour into a baking dish.

For the crust, note: Her recipe made way too much crust and because I don’t have a KitchenAid, I did most of it in a food processor. So this is my interpretation:

Combine in food processor 1 c. flour, 1/2 c. sugar, 1/2 c. brown sugar, 1/2 tsp. kosher salt, 2 sticks of cold butter in cubes. Process until the butter is in small pieces. Transfer to a larger bowl and mix in 1/2 c. oats with a wooden spoon (or do this in the FP if you have enough room). Sprinkle this over the apple-pear mixture.

Put the dish on a baking sheet and bake until golden and bubbly, about 1 hr.

Serve steaming with vanilla bean ice cream over the top.

Jesse loves the addition of the pears with the apples (I usually make plain apple crisps), and I am just a huge fan of the crust. Enjoy, friends, as summer leaves us for fall!

What makes a crisp a crisp

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