This luscious fruit crisp is a perfect dessert for an early fall evening. Look to September’s harvest and gather late-season stone fruit and autumnal pears for this homey baked dessert. Then fortify the filling and topping with dried fruit and nuts for extra substance, sweetness, and texture.
The key to a good fruit crisp is to combine a bounty of fruits at their peak in flavor, enhanced with a dusting of sugar and spice. Use a light hand with the sugar; let the fruit do the heavy lifting to sweeten the dish. The topping should be crisp and crumbly, not cloyingly sweet. Add oats and nuts for a hearty, crunchy texture. (This is why the dessert is called a crisp and not a crumble. A crumble does not include oats and relies on flour to create a clumpier topping.) For a garnish, add a simple dollop of gently sweetened whipped cream to complement the luscious fruit.
