Cranberry Apple Crisp

Stuck with leftover cranberries after making cranberry sauce? Throw together this easy Cranberry Apple Crisp with pecans! Warm and comforting in every bite.

Every Thanksgiving, this scenario happens.

I buy a bag of fresh cranberries to make homemade cranberry sauce then I end up with about half a bag of leftover cranberries.

Sure I could freeze them, but then I end up throwing them out 6 months later anyway.

I can always make more cranberry sauce and use on top of cranberry baked brie. That’s usually a good dinner, er I mean snack option you’re supposed to share with other people.

But with Thanksgiving coming up soon, I wanted to make a cranberry dessert as a sigh of relief from the traditional pumpkin pie.

Not that there’s anything wrong with a small pumpkin pie, but sometimes you want to break up the monotony.

This Cranberry Apple Crisp has all the flavors of fall in one bite. The sweetness from the apples helps balance out the tartness from the cranberries. Then you have crunchy pecans on top. Warm and comforting at its finest.

The recipe makes about 4 servings. It’s ideal when you don’t want too much leftover after your Thanksgiving Dinner For Two or Christmas For Two.

What is a crisp?

What makes a crisp a crisp and not a cobbler or a crumble or a grunt or a…?

A crisp is a cooked fruit filling with a streusel topping, like my apple crisp for two.

The difference between a crisp and a crumble (like my pumpkin crumble bars) is crisps have oats.

Fruit crisps are one of the easiest desserts to throw together when you don’t have a lot of time.

I won’t say it’s the quickest recipe because it takes almost an hour to bake, but prepping is fast.

Toss everything together then bake. No need to cook the filling separately.

Ingredients For Cranberry Apple Crisp

Here’s what you need to make your apple cranberry crisp:

• Cranberries: Can use fresh or frozen
• Apple Use a sweet baking apple such as Gala, Jonagold, or Golden Delicious. Most apple varieties will work, but please stay away from Red Delicious or Honeycrisp as those are snacking apples.
• Sugar: Helps sweeten the crisp.
• Cornstarch: – Helps thicken the juices as the fruit cooks down
• Vanilla: – Enhances all the flavors (much like salt does in cooking)
• Cinnamon: Warm spice that pairs well with apple and cranberry
• Salt: A touch of salt doesn’t make your filling salty but rather balances it with the sweetness
• Flour: Helps bind the streusel
• Oats: Adds a bit of nuttiness and crispness to the streusel. Use quick cooking or rolled oats. Do not use steel oats or instant oatmeal packets
• Butter: Helps give the streusel its buttery, crunchy texture

Where To Buy Cranberries

Fresh cranberries are in season from roughly October until December and can found in the berry section of your grocery store (which makes sense because they’re calling cran-BERRIES).

If you are having trouble finding them – out of season, sold out, whatever – you can use frozen cranberries. Make sure they are completely thawed, drained, and patted dry as much as possible.

How To Make Cranberry Apple Crisp

Here’s how to make your apple crisp with cranberries:

Mix together cranberries, apple, sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla

Whisk together brown sugar, flour, oats, pecans, and cinnamon then cut in the cold butter with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles small pebbles.

Transfer cranberry apple mixture to a 1 quart casserole dish, 8×8 pan, or 9 inch pie plate then sprinkle streusel on top.

Bake at 350F for 50-60 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown.

Cool for 15 minutes then serve your apple cranberry crisp with vanilla bean ice cream, homemade whipped cream, or maple whipped cream.

Refrigerate leftover cran apple crisp for up to 5 days.

More Fruit Dessert Recipes

If you enjoyed this recipe for cranberry apple crisp, check out these other fruit dessert recipes:

• Pear Crisp
• Raspberry Crisp
• Blueberry Cobbler For Two
• Peach Cobbler For Two

First published November 13, 2017