A Little Bite Of Sunshine: Lemon Pie With Toasted Pecan Graham Crust

If you listen closely enough, you can hear the earth give off a collective sigh of relief.  "YES!  We made it though another winter!"  And that's how I feel too.....Snow is almost completely melted...There are signs of glimmering green life in my flower beds...Temperatures are rising and so are moods.  I've had a little bounce to my step this week, and I know I'm not the only one.  Then of course there are the ubiquitous boys in shorts and ball caps, even though it's not past ten degrees Celsius.  Um, yeah.  Lookin' good.

Saskatoon is incredibly sunny.  There is some sort of statistic out there on how much sunlight we get per year...and of course I don't know it off the top of my head...but it's a lot.  Lots and lots of sun.  It can be cold and a trifle windy....but it's BRIGHT!  There is so much sun in my office/dining room/ spare room right now I can barely see the computer screen.  It streams in and lights up my entire little house.  I love days like this.

Feeling all happy and light, I wanted something that tastes how I feel, if that makes sense...and of course it had to be lemon.  I know there are some of you out there that will choose Lemon over Chocolate when it comes to desserts.  I've witnessed many a heated battle about this.  I'm a permanent member of Team Chocolate,  but every once in awhile, I shake things up and go see how things are on the other side of the debate.  Not so bad!!!

I do love lemon desserts...lemon tart, lemon curd, lemon squares, lemon cream cheese muffins (that I wrote about previously!) But I'm NOTa fan of lemon meringue pie.  And the meringue is to blame.  All that soggy egg white, that just weeps and makes a sad pie.  When I make lemon pie, I only put cream on top, none of that awful meringue.  This crust is nice too, because you don't have to make pastry (Yay!), and it's a super quick, press in , bake 10 minutes, bring out, pour the filling in, bake 15 more minutes, and you are done kind of pie.  The filling just has 3 ingredients, is the perfect balance of tart and sweet...so really...if you love lemon, (and even if you are on Team Chocolate), go ahead and give this pie a whirl.  If you pay attention, you can taste the sunshine.

Lemon Pie in Pecan Graham Crust

Crust:
3/4 cup toasted pecans
1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp melted butter

Filling:
2 egg yolks
1 can sweetened condensed milk
grated zest of one lemon
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

Whipping cream for garnish

For the crust:  Preheat oven to 350*F.  Combine all of the crust ingredients in a bowl and stir well.  Press into a 9 inch glass pie plate.  Bake for about 10 minutes. 
For the filling:  Mix together filling ingredients.  Pour into baked pie shell.  Bake for 15 minutes until set.  Let cool completely.  Chill one hour.  Spread whipped cream on top.  Serves 6.

Orange and Cinnamon Scented Rice Pudding With Caramelized Brown Sugar Crust

So officially the calender says that we should be in the season of Spring.  Well, in my neck of the woods, it is STILL winter.  A blizzard rages outside my window;  I have enough snow in my backyard to build a massive snow fort if I wanted ( I don't!), and there is no sign of melting until maybe next week.  The only bright side to this never-ending winter (besides making snow angels!) is that I can make some wonderful comfort food I haven't had a chance to yet.  Things like butterscotch pudding, and chocolate caramel bread pudding and you guessed it, rice pudding!  I'm all about pudding lately.  Not sure why.  Yes, I have all of my teeth, and no I'm not 100 years old.  There's just something really homey and comforting about it.  March is a tough month for me.  It's so long and dreary, and world events are kind of bumming me out.  I guess I just need more comfort all around.  Or like my friend Mindy tells me on a fairly regular basis "girl, we need to find you a man!"  I just hope he likes pudding.

This is nothing like your Granny's rice pudding - there is no cornstarch or eggs or glueyness to it that can sometimes give rice pudding a bad wrap.  Using arborio rice creates a luscious pudding, scented with maple and hits of orange and cinnamon. I love the cinnamon sticks nestled in the rice while it bakes - your house will smell incredible.  And the brown sugar crust.  Well holy smokes! It's a beautiful thing.

I've never baked with almond milk and I was very impressed.  The pudding is rich tasting, but not heavy.  You could use all 2% if you like, but don't use skim.  The brown sugar crust sort of melts and you are left with this delicious caramelized brown sugar syrup.  Spooned into my pretty blue dishes, and sprinkled with freshly grated nutmeg and orange zest, the rice pudding soothes this winter weary soul. The blizzard can rage on for all I care.  I have  pudding to see me through.

Orange and Cinnamon Scented Rice Pudding With Caramelized Brown Sugar Crust

4 cups 10% cream (use whatever liquid you want.  almond milk; 2%; or a combo of whatever you like)
1 cup arborio rice (do not subsitute any other rice)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tbsp finely grated orange rind
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp nutmeg
2 cinnamon sticks (if you don't have, 1 tsp of ground cinnamon is fine)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar

In a large bowl, stir together liquid, rice, sugar, syrup, orange zest, vanilla, and spices.  Scrape into a buttered 10 cup baking dish.  Nestle the cinammon sticks in rice.  Cover tightly with alluminium foil and bake at 325*F for one hour.  Stir, cover again, and bake for 15 minutes longer.  Remove from oven, and take out cinnamon sticks.  Sprinkle the brown sugar over the rice and put under broiler for about 4 minutes, until bubbly. Keep a close eye so as not to burn.  That would  be awful!   Best served warm or at room temperature.  Refrigerate for up to 3 days.  Makes about 6-8 servings. 

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Ganache and Raspberry Cream Cheese Icing

I had a date on the weekend.  Don't get too excited - it wasn't THAT kind of date; although Mindy-the-matchmaker is working on it (always!) No, I had a PLAY date with my big-girl nieces. (My little-girl nieces are just 1 and 2 years old, and not ready for sleepovers, but that will be super fun when it happens!) Sydney and Taylor, the awesome big girls that they are, came over on Saturday for one of our requisite hanging out sessions.  I don't have kids, so spending time with the nieces and nephews (I have 7 in total!) is my adventure into Kidland.  I find out about what they want to be when they grow up, and about their boyfriends (!!) and about how cool decimals are (oh grade 4 math!)  Being an aunt is a role I cherish...I love being the confidante, and the one who lets them stay up late and drink too much chocolate milk.  We watch the movies I watched when I was a kid, and I'll even sit and watch something Disney-ish too.  I let them pick out a vintage tea cup and saucer from my cabinet, and we have tea parties....they the chocolate milk, and Auntie Renee has, ahem, something a wee bit stronger in hers.  I make a sweet treat, and we sit back, cuddled on the couch, with our blankets and pillows and Sunny the cat curling up wherever he can.  Nights like this I'm hoping they will remember always. 

Red Velvet Cake has been intriguing me lately, and I know, everywhere you look there are recipes galore.  I really wanted to try it, and I LOVE that there are beets in this recipe (don't be scared!  You can't taste them!)  I found a pretty good recipe in  "Chatelaine" magazine, but I added melted butter instead of oil, because I wanted a richer flavour.  The dipping in ganache was something I thought would be amazing (and it is!), while the raspberry cream cheese icing is just the perfect touch to an already incredible chocolate cupcake.  Raspberry and chocolate is one of my favourite flavour combos in the whole world - they were simply born to be together!  The cake really isn't that red.  I have an aversion to food colouring, but if you wanted a redder looking cake, then by all means add a few drops. 

Oh. The kids adored these cupcakes.  As did their Auntie!

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Ganache and Raspberry Cream Cheese Icing

1/4 cup frozen raspberries
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 398ml can beets, rinsed, drained, patted dry
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup melted butter (OR vegetable oil)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 block light cream cheese (OR full fat), cubed
1/2 cup icing sugar

Leave the raspberries on the counter to thaw.
Preheat oven to 350*F
Line a 12 cup muffin tin with papers, or spray with oil.  Stir together dry ingredients.  Puree beets in a blender, or with the immersion blender.  Beat the sugar and oil in a medium sized bowl, using an electric mixer, for about 2 minutes.  Beat in the eggs, then the beets, and vanilla.  Gradually beat in one-third of the flour mixture, just until blended, then half of the buttermilk. Scrape down the bowl, repeat additions, ending with the flour mixture.  Divide the batter among the muffin cups, filling 3/4 full.  I had batter left, as this recipe  makes about 18 cupcakes.  Bake in the centre of your oven for about 25 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.  Cool in pan on rack for 15 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely before dipping in ganache.

Chocolate Ganache

3/4 cup heavy cream
6 ounces dark chocolate, chopped

Place chopped chocolate in a bowl.  Heat the cream in a saucepan until boiling.  Pour over the chopped chocolate, and whisk until smooth.  Let sit for about 10 minutes before you dip your cupcakes.  Plunge the tops in (I had taken the muffin papers off for a prettier look), and let rest on a cutting board or rack.  Let sit for a few minutes and plunge again.  Or just do a single dip, and that will still be amazing!  Wait until the glaze is completely set, before piping on your raspberry cream cheese icing. 

Raspberry Cream Cheese Icing

Strain your raspberries, reserving the liquid.  In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until soft, add the icing sugar and the raspberry  juice.  Blend until super smooth.  I had to add a bit more icing sugar until I got a thicker consistency.  You can pipe a dollop on top of your chocolate ganache cupcake, or you can completely omit the ganache dunking and simply smooth the cupcake with this icing.  The choice is yours!  These are best eaten the day of, but will be fine if refrigerated in an air tight container, for a couple of days.  And no one will know there are beets in their chocolate cake!

For Your Sunday Brunch: Buttermilk Scones With Saskatoon Berry Butter

Sunday morning is my favourite time of the week.  I have enough jam packed activity going on Monday - Saturday, but Sundays are mine to savour.   I sleep in a little, stay in the pajamas longer, and get caught up on any episodes of "Coronation Street" I may have missed throughout the week.  Did I just admit that I watch that long running British soap?  Guess I did.  I don't watch lots of TV, but "Corrie" and "TMZ" are really the only shows I tape.  Nope, I'm not a "Law and Order" kind of girl.  Bring on the celebrity smut and crazy Brit characters I love so much!  Sunday morning means I also like to bust out a pretty decent breakfast, be it waffles or pancakes or sometimes just hearty oatmeal with maple syrup and toasted pecans.  I brew up some English Breakfast in my polka dot tea pot, sit back and watch a little telly, or perch on a stool and read the paper in the sunlight streaming into my little green kitchen. Afterwards I'll maybe go for a hike, or take in a movie, or meet up with friends for coffee.  My mom has me over for Sunday dinner so I don't even have to cook if I don't want to!  Yes, I savour my Sundays.

 

When I worked in Edmonton at Rutherford House, I  made these scones almost every day the four and a half years I was there.  That's a lot of scones!  Scone making was how I started my work day, and there was something about the gentle kneading and rolling and cutting out shapes that eased me into my busy day.  The scones are light and fluffy and go perfectly with this Saskatoon Berry butter.  What is a Saskatoon Berry you say?  Well, it's native to the Western Canadian Prairies, not to be confused with the blueberry.  Saskatoons are deep deep purple and have a musky, almond-like sweetness.  They grow along river banks and coulees and I spent many a childhood summer day picking them (and eating them!). My mom and sister make fantastic jam and syrup, but they didn't make any last year so I'm out of my stash of that royal goodness.  Good thing I found the sweetest old couple at the farmer's market that makes really really good jam, almost as good as my mom's.  The berry butter is so easy and amazing, you'll wonder why you haven't  made it before.  Slathered on a warm scone, it's a little bit of heaven.

Buttermilk Scones

6 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp baking powder
dash salt
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup butter, cut into cubes
6 eggs
1 3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350*F
In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.  Cut in the cold butter with a pastry blender.  In another bowl, beat the eggs, add the buttermilk and cream, vanilla.  Add the wet to the dry and stir just to combine.  Form into a ball, and knead a few times.  Roll out to 1/2 " thickness.  Cut out round shapes with a cookie cutter or glass.  Arrange on bake sheet, sprinkle some coarse sugar if you like.  Bake at 350*F for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.  Makes about 24 scones.  These freeze very well.

For the Berry Butter
1/2 cup softened butter, salted or unsalted, your choice
1/2 cup saskatoon berry jam, or any other jam you like.  Raspberry, blueberry, strawberry, the choice is yours!
In a mixer, or by hand, whip the softened butter and jam together, until very fluffy.  That's all you do!  Keeps well in the fridge, but given its deliciousness, it won't be there long.
Both recipes adapted from The Arbour Restaurant in Rutherford House. 

Taking Chances: Rustic Apple Tart with Dulce de Leche and Lavender

Sometimes you know within the first five minutes of meeting someone that you are going to be friends for life.  Such is the case with my friend Mindy.  We met two years ago this month, at a dinner meeting for women new to the city.  We all know how hard it can be to make new friends as we get older.  Add moving to a new city into the mix, and it can be downright daunting.  At first I wasn't going to go to the dinner (because I'm a little bit shy), but then I thought "what the hell!".  Nothing to lose.  So I went, and ended up sitting beside Mindy, where we bonded over cats and karaoke, gin and geraniums. And we've been friends ever since.  I wasn't even scared off as she dragged me to a NKOTB concert!  Mindy is the kind of friend you want in your corner.  She was with me in that small, sad room, as I put my beloved cat to sleep, handing me Kleenex and letting me sob uncontrollably on her shoulder.  She's tagged along as I stalked, er, "investigated" potential mates.  Mindy has pretty much made it her mission to find me a boyfriend, and I think she tries harder at it than I do.  Some days I think what would have happened if I hadn't gone to that dinner.  I would have missed out on a kindred spirit, and you never want to miss out on those. 

Mindy has pretty much declared herself the official "sweetsugarbean" taste tester, which is fantastic because there's no way I can eat all of this food!  She was popping by on a Friday afternoon, so I looked in the fridge, assessed the contents, and decided to make this apple tart.  I had a bag of apples, a little on the tired side, a sheet of puff pastry, and a jar of the glorious Dulce de Leche. Not really having a recipe to go by, I knew I wanted a tart, not too dry, thinking that the Dulce would add some caramel goodness to it.  The lavender was a last minute addition, but one I thought would be amazing.  I've made cookies before with dried lavender.  Even adding it to roast chicken, along with rosemary and thyme and sage.  I LOVE the lavender in this tart.  It's subtle, but combined with the cinnamon and apples, it adds another flavour dimension.  This recipe is quick, and simple.  I'm looking forward to slices of it with my coffee for tomorrow's  breakfast.

Maybe it's adding lavender to an apple tart, or putting up an online dating profile, but everyday it seems there's an opportunity for us to take chances.  So.  Are there any chances you need to take?

Rustic Apple Tart with Dulce de Leche and Lavender

one sheet of puff pastry, rolled out to approx. 9"x13" (the size doesn't have to be perfect.  It's rustic after all!)
3-4 medium apples.  I used gala, but you could granny smith or golden delicious too.
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbsp. melted butter
2 Tsp. dried lavender.  Check any specialty grocery, or health food store. 
1/3 Cup of Dulce de Leche (I used the PC brand)

Peel, core and thinly slice your apples. Put into a bowl with the sugar, cinnamon and lavender. Stir well.  Add the  melted butter.  Stir again.  Roll out your puff pastry, and place on a parchment lined bake sheet.  I rolled the edges up a little to make a border. Prick the sides and centre of the puff pastry with a fork.   Spread a thin layer of the Dulde de Leche over the centre. If you need more, than add a little more.  Layer your apples, overlapping, over the caramel goodness.  Looks pretty, hey?  Bake in the lower third of your oven at 375*F, for about 35-40 minutes.  You want a golden crust.  Let cool before cutting into wedges.  You could serve with whipped cream, or ice cream, but I liked mine straight up, with some organic strawberries.  Oh yeah, Mindy loved it too, and lucky girl got to take some home.  Her job as official taste tester done for the day!

Flourless Chocolate Cake: A Love Affair

I can't believe it's taken six posts to write about chocolate.  Sacrilege!!!!  Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm pretty tight with chocolate.  I almost always stick with the dark stuff, because it's full of antioxidants and practically health food, but every once in a blue moon I'll fall back onto my ultimate fave - milk chocolate with toffee chunks.  Cuz, me and toffee, we are pretty tight too.  And it's no coincidence that today is Valentine's Day, or Love Day or Chocolate is a Boyfriend Substitute Day (do they make cards for that?).  I kind of love Valentine's Day (ha ha).  Over the years there have been the boys that brought me beautiful flowers and cooked me dinner, but the Valentine's Days I really remember are the ones spent with friends.  Long ago, living in Montreal, me and my roommate sat at our kitchen table and made beautiful Valentine cards for our loved ones back West, and our friends in the city.   Using coloured paper and my oil pastels, we lovingly cut them out, and wrote quotes on them.  I think I still have the ones she made for me.  The other Valentine's Day that stands out, is again in Montreal, me and my friends had an "Anti Valentine's Day Party"  which was dessert potluck.  Maybe we were bitter about boys, but that was one helluva party.  And really you can't be too bitter, eating chocolate and dancing to Prince!   Even though there is no one special this year to buy me flowers and cook me dinner,  I'm still surrounded by people who love the bones off me, and that's really all that matters.  I'd rather be single and pretty happy, than in a dead end miserable relationship.  And being bitter is a waste of time.  We all know that.  So whether you are spending V-Day solo, or with your loved one, or with a room full of loved ones, consider this my Valentine to you. 

I've never made flourless chocolate cake before.  Always loved it eating out, so thought I'd give it a try, after seeing a recipe in one of Martha's magazines.  The great thing about this is cake is that it is not only full of chocolate and butter, but also, it's GLUTEN FREE!  And if you have a loved one who is Celiac, you know, like I do, how it can be a bit difficult to cook and bake for them.  This cake doesn't need any specialty flour or ingredients.  Just lots of eggs and chocolate and sugar.  I didn't use super good quality chocolate, just President's Choice brand Extra Dark 300g bar.  You know the ones they were clearing out after Christmas?  The chocolate isn't hideous, and sometimes you just have to use what you have in the cupboard.  Be sure to beat the eggs for the specified times, cuz that's what give it it's oomph.  It bakes up high, then condenses down into beautiful crackles, with a super fugdey centre.    Drizzle with some of the Espresso Glaze, a little whipped cream if you are totally decadent.  I spent my small life savings on some organic raspberries, but couldn't resist them.  It's been 5 months since I've had a fresh raspberry, and I only eat organic berries (don't even get me started on pesticide residue on berries), so I paid the small fortune for them.  Completely worth it.  Chocolate + Raspberry = perfection. 
From one girl who loves chocolate to all of you, who I'm sure do too, Happy Valentine's Day!  Share this cake with someone you love.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Espresso Glaze 

For the Cake:
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 Cup granulated sugar
3 Tbsp. instant espresso powder
1/4 Tsp. coarse salt
1 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract

For the Glaze;
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 Tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp instant espresso powder
1/4 Tsp. coarse salt

To Make the Cake:

Preheat oven to 350*F.  Butter the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan, and line the bottom with parchment, cut to fit.  I buttered the sides too.  Melt the chocolate and butter over very low heat, stirring and keeping close eye on it so as not to burn.  With a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg yolks with 1/2 cup of sugar, until thick and pale, about 3 minutes.  Add espresso powder and salt, and beat for 1 minute.  Add vanilla and chocolate mixture and beat for 1 minute more.  Transfer this mixture to a large bowl, and wash the  mixer bowl and whisk with hot soapy water. 

In your clean bowl, add the egg whites and whisk until foamy.  Slowly add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and beat the heck out of it, until stiff peaks form and hold their shape.  Fold the white goo into the chocolate mixture, in three additions.  Fold fold fold.  Pour the batter into your prepared pan. 

Bake until set, about 40-45 minutes.  Let cool completely on a rack, and then carefully remove pan from sides.  Lift cake with spatula and remove parchment. 

To Make the Glaze:

Combine chocolate and butter and vanilla in a bowl.  In a saucepan, add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil, stirring well.  Pour over chocolate and whisk until smooth.  Serve warm glaze with cake.  The glaze seemed to get a little thick on me, so you may want to add a bit more cream to thin it out. 

Cake serves 6-8.  (Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Living)

A Pot of Tea, a Good Book and Lemon Cream Cheese Muffins

There's something almost luxurious about having a weekday off.  Especially if it's a freezing cold Monday in early February.  While everyone else is out there miserably scraping their windshields, I was all tucked in, snug as bug in my warm little house.  Rising later than 6:00 and staying in my pajamas until I feel like it is a total treat, and not one I get to indulge in too often.  On this particularly frigid day, I was glad I had nowhere to be until my yoga class later in the afternoon.  A whole day with a blank canvas stretched before me.  What oh what was I going to do?  Why, bake of course!!!! All I really wanted to do was whip up these divine lemon cream cheese muffins, brew my polka dot tea pot full of good tea, and curl up with a favourite read. I'm currently loving "Cool Water" by Regina author (and winner of this year's Governor General's Literary Award for fiction!) Dianne Warren.  Throw a cat or two along for the ride.  If I curl up, they curl up.

Now let's talk about these light and lovely lemon cream cheese muffins.  After I graduated from Culinary School, I worked in the Yukon that summer.  There was a really talented pastry chef on staff and she gave me this recipe.  I learned quite a lot that summer, while having the time of my life, cooking and adventuring in the wild!  Good times.  But back to the muffins.  The batter is light, with little chunks of cream cheese thrown in for some decadence. I like to leave some bigger chunks, because then you bite into this cakey cream cheese lemony loveliness. Brushing the tops of the hot muffins with sugar and lemon juice is a nice finish.  They are pretty dreamy as is, or you can further up the dreaminess by topping with a little lemon buttercream.  These are perfect for a baby or bridal shower, or a birthday, or just an everyday treat, when you want a little nurturing yourself.  Kind of like the day I had planned.  A little self-nurturing goes a long way in my world.

I hope my handwriting is legible enough...Combine the dry ingredients, cut in the cubes of cream cheese.  In a separate bowl combine the wet ( I like to add more lemon zest and a bit more juice for extra flavour.)Add the wet to the dry, mixing just a little until all is combined.  This recipe makes about 10 muffins.  Bake for 20-25 minutes at 375*F, and brush the 2 Tbsp. each lemon juice/sugar mixture on top of hot muffins.  Glorious!!!!

And don't forget to have a nice cup of tea with your little lemon lovelies.  Somehow tea always tastes better in my vintage cups.  Just a matter of choosing which one I'll use that day!

Blue it is!

Apple Blueberry Walnut Crisp On the Coldest Night of the Year

I have the most beautiful apple tree in my backyard.  When the tree is in bloom,  it gives off the most glorious scent, and I love to sit on my deck, in the warm sunshine, and just smell.  Pure heaven.  In Summer, it is lush with leaves and tiny crab apples, and my cat Sunny will climb around in it for hours, hoping to catch a bird, which he never does, thankfully.  Autumn turns it into a golden orb, creating the most beautiful light.  But in Winter, it looks a little sad.  So bare and brittle. So solemn.   This tree gets no love in Winter. Tree and I are in the same boat: anticipating Spring with bated breath.  As I write this, on the coldest night of the year, I need some sort of reminder of what it is not be Winter.  I need some crisp!


 

In the back of my freezer, I found a Ziploc full of apples I had picked and peeled, cored and sliced.  Perfect for an apple crisp!  Also had some frozen organic blueberries.  Perfect. I'm so happy I froze so much fruit last summer, needed especially for days like today.   Can I just say a crisp is the perfect comfort dessert?  Any combo of fruit is amazing.  Add some nuts into the topping, and everyone will think you are a rock star.  To really put it over the edge, serve with whipped cream, or ice cream. But I never eat ice cream in winter.  I figure I'm cold enough, why get colder?  It's important to use real butter in the topping.  For any baking, I only ever  use butter.  There are no evils of hydrogenation or trans fat to worry about, and God love it, butter does make everything better.  In this recipe, you don't need a lot of it, but if you want an extra buttery topping, by all means, add more.  I won't tell.

Apple Blueberry Walnut Crisp

6 Cups of peeled, and sliced apples, and blueberries.  Any combination of fruit works. 
3 Tbsp. honey
1 Tsp. Pure vanilla extract
2 Tsp. whole wheat flour
2 Tsp. cinnamon

2 Cups of large flake oats
1/2 Cup brown sugar (or a bit less, if you want it not as sweet, depending on the fruit you are using)
1/3 Cup butter (salted is fine) adding more if you want a super buttery topping. 
1/2 Cup of walnuts, or pecans, or almonds. 

Preheat oven to 350.

In a mixing bowl, combine the fruit, with the honey and vanilla and flour.  Stir well.  Pour into a baking dish, 8x8 is fine.  In the same bowl, mix your dry ingredients, adding butter, and use your fingers to incorporate it all.  Add in the nuts.  There should be nice clusters and clumps, if not, add more butter!  When you are satisfied with the how buttery you want it, place the topping over the fruit.  Place the baking dish in your preheated oven, and bake for about 40-45 minutes, until the topping is golden.  Turn off your oven, and let it sit for a few more minutes.  Take it out, let it cool, then tuck in.  I love it for breakfast the next day, topped with vanilla yogurt.

And now at look at my beloved tree....