Winter Fruit Crisp

One of the downsides to winter is that you cant make a decent crisp. The types of apples available are not right and just forget about fresh peaches because they will be too dear. A canned crisp fruit is all you are left with. While we can still use Big Oil to ferry supplies from one part of the globe to the next you can make a winter crisp using oranges from California or Florida.


Orange/Apricot Crisp
Oil an 8x8 pan and preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl mix together:
Fruit mixture
8 Navel oranges with skins and pith cut then sliced. (reserve 2 T zest)
2C thinly sliced dried apricots
1/2 C raisins
1/2 C chopped candied ginger
Topping mixture
1C light flour
1/2C sugar
1/2 t salt
6 T butter
1/2 t vanilla
Rub vanilla and butter into flour mixture until crumbly then sprinkle on top of fruit. Bake for 30-40 minutes and cool for 10.

Adaptations. Although I would never consider my place a test kitchen, there are sometimes a lot of things going on here. We made this and I got pretty good reviews for it so will make it again. There are a couple of things I will change about it next time around.  I thought the orange zest was bitter so I would decrease it or leave it out completely. A better idea would be to reserve a bit of the juice and sprinkle it on top of the flour mixture. Also, the candied ginger is a bit hot for some people. Leave it out completely and replace with dried cranberries or just shave a little fresh ginger into the fruit mixture since orange and ginger are such good companion flavors.
So give this a try and let me know what you think.