Pear Apple Crisp

A good morning before heading to work for the day entails stepping out early to walk my dog with that Autumn chill in the air and taking in the Zen like quality of the moment. The only sound is the rustle of the leaves in the trees. I have a hot cup of coffee with a little cream and a pinch of cinnamon in my hand. The crimson and orange leaves swirl around my feet on the cold concrete as I walk alone sipping the coffee while centering my thoughts and preparing mentally for the day ahead.

The only thing that I savior as much if not more than these Autumn mornings is the smell of apple crisps, pies and tarts coming out of the oven when there is a chill in the air. With the temperature dropping, the following recipe looked too good to resist. I adapted this from Ina Garten's "Barefoot Contessa at Home". I made a few minor changes but it is almost exactly as it appears in the book. This is a classic combination of flavors that is not too sweet with an almost cookie like crisp crumble on top. Enjoy! xoxo - AJ

Recipe:
4 Bosc pears
6 apples (2 Honeycrisp, 2 Granny Smith and 2 Fuji)
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

For the topping:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar packed
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup old fashioned oatmeal
1/2 pound or 2 sticks butter, diced

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Peel and core the pears and apples and cut them into large chunks. Place the fruit in a large bowl and toss with the cranberries, zests, juices, sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour into a 9x12x2-inch baking dish.

For the topping, combine the flour, sugars, salt, oatmeal and cold butter and mix together with a food processor or a stand mixer. Mix until the mixture is in large crumbles. Sprinkle evenly over the fruit covering the fruit completely.

Place the baking dish on a sheet pan covered with tin foil and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 20 minutes, until the top is brown and the fruit is bubbly. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.