Summer Fruit Crisp (Cherry Nectarine Strawberry)

This easy-to-make Fruit Crisp is chock full of fresh summer fruit like bing cherries, nectarines, and strawberries. Just toss it all together and bake!

I have a crisp addiction. I love crisps and it doesn’t really matter what sort of fruit is hiding inside – I just love them. There’s something about a perfect blend of fruit, and a crunchy oatmeal topping, that I can’t live without.

With that said, I was going to visit my Grandfather the other day and was trying to figure out what to bring him. I had some random summer fruit sitting on the counter, and I wasn’t in the mood to make him some jam, nor ice cream, so I made a crisp instead.

This was a new fruit combination for me, but it turned out insanely well. The nectarines added just the right amount of tartness to the crisp, and I love how the red cherries and strawberries bled through the crisp topping for that perfect summer look.

CHERRY NECTARINE STRAWBERRY CRISP

Ingredients:

• 2 cups fresh Bing cherries, pitted and halved
• 2 nectarines, peeled and chunked
• 12 strawberries, medium-sized, hulled and chunked
• 1/2 teaspoon orange zest
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon Bolthouse Farms® Amazing Mango™ smoothie*
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/8 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon

*If you can’t find Bolthouse Farms® in your supermarket, just substitute a similar Mango-tasting smoothie; I find that a smoothie gives the fruit filling more depth than just plain OJ.

For the topping:

• 3/4 cup flour
• 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 6 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
• 1/4 pound (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced

Directions:

For the fruit mixture:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Step 2: Peel the nectarines, hull the strawberries, and pit the cherries. Then cut them into bite-sized chunks.

Step 3: Add zests, smoothie, lemon juice, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the bowl and whisk. Add the fruit and toss together.

Step 4: Pour the fruit mixture into a standard-sized baking dish.

For the topping:

Step 1: Combine the flour, sugars, salt, oatmeal, and cold butter into a large bowl. Using your fingers, rub the mixture together until large crumbles form. (The butter must be cold to do this easily.)

Step 2: Sprinkle the topping evenly over the fruit, covering the fruit completely. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until the top is brown and the fruit is bubbly. (I usually place a cookie tray underneath the crisp, on a lower rack in the oven, in case the fruit juices bubble over.)

Step 3: You can either serve the crisp warm, right out of the oven, with or without a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or cold. (I prefer mine cold, right out of the fridge, but my husband prefers his warm – both ways taste great!)

Happy Reading!
Denine

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