I am able to take your average, everyday fruits and turn them into fantastic desserts. I don't know how it happens, it just does. Take for instance these beautiful, but often overlooked, organic cranberries. These came in my Thanksgiving box and I threw them in the freezer without another thought. Until now.
There were probably about 4 cups of them. I grabbed them out of the freezer, rinsed in water and then placed in a soup pot with a TBS of sugar and just enough water to barely cover the bottom of the pan. I covered the pot and simmered on medium-low for about 15-20 minutes, or until they looked like this:
In the meantime, I cored and peeled about 4 medium-sized apples (any crisp/slightly tart kind will do -- no Red Delicious) and stirred them into the cranberries with brown sugar to taste. I found that about 1 TBS did the trick -- I didn't want the fruit to be overly sweet, but I wanted to tame the tartness of the cranberries.
This was all well and good, but I wanted something more, so I added a couple handfuls of these awesome Pecan Pie Pecans, too.
I placed the fruit/nut mixture in a baking dish and then topped with a simple crumb topping of 1/2 cup wheat flour, 1/4 cup almond flour, 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 4 TBS softened butter. I could have used more flour and butter in the crumble, but I didn't want the crumb topping to be the star of the dish, so I used it sparingly.
I popped in the 400 degree oven along with Daniel Boulud's Lasagna with Chicken, Wild Mushrooms, and Fontina Cheese and baked until golden and bubbly, about 25-30 mins.
Served on its own with a few slices of Cranberry-chunk cheese or a scoop of vanilla ice cream, this is a winner.
What can I say? I never was a huge fan of sports anyway.
;)
xoxoxo