Apricot Cherry Crisp

A perennial summer favorite

I’m going to keep this short and sweet, but not too sweet. I guess I should say, this is tangy, which is what happens when you bake fresh apricots. They get tart and tangy, which makes them one of the few fruits (one could argue, or at least I could) that is even better cooked than raw.

We had fresh apricots when I lived in California, but I never knew how abundant they were in France until I moved here. I don’t mean to make anyone jealous, but right now the price runs from €3 to €6 per kilo (about 2 pounds) at the markets to around €7 per kilo for the ones sold in shops that sell fruits and vegetables from small producers. Wherever you get them, now is the time to use them in apricot tarts, jam, and free-form galettes.

In France, crumbles are popular, which I think is a name borrowed from our British neighbors. Whether you call them crisps or crumbles, they’re a great dessert to make when summer fruits are at their peak, as apricots and cherries are right now.

If you can’t get fresh apricot, never fear — I’ve given some guidance for adapting this recipe for other summer fruits below the recipe. Whatever fruit you use, whatever you call them, ice cream is obligatoire to serve with them — unless you want to add a dollop of crème fraîche, which is allowable and makes them more decidedly French.

I served this one with Fresh Ginger Ice Cream from The Perfect Scoop, but white chocolate-ginger, vanilla, or cinnamon ice cream are also good supporting candidates here. (Don’t tell, but without the ice cream, leftover fruit crisp makes a nice morning treat for breakfast too.)

Apricot-Cherry Crisp

8 Servings

You’ll need to buy around 3 pounds (1,3kg) of fruit to make this. Apricots are ripe when they are soft to the touch, not rock hard. Depending on the variety, some apricots are more tart than others and will take more time to bake. The best way to check for doneness is to insert a paring knife into the center of the crisp; if the knife slides in and meets no resistance, it’s done.

The filling will bubble up a bit as it bakes, although apricot juices tend not to bubble as high, or as actively, as juice from peaches and nectarines. So you want to make sure your baking dish has high enough sides so there’s some extra room for bubbling juices. No matter what fruit you use, you probably want to bake the crisp on a baking sheet lined with foil to catch any drips and spills. I shared a few other notes, tips, and FAQs after the recipe.

For the topping

3/4 cup (80g) whole almonds, lightly toasted and cooled to room temperature

1 1/4 cups (175g) flour

6 tablespoons (70g) light or dark brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 ounces (115g) unsalted butter, cut into cubes, lightly softened (left at room temperature about 10-15 minutes before using)

For the fruit filling

7 cups (2 3/4 pounds, 1,25kg) pitted and quartered fresh apricots

1 1/2 cups (165g) cherries, pitted (I used sweet, but you could use 1 cup of fresh sour cherries instead)

6 tablespoons (75g) sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon kirsch or a few drops of pure almond extract (optional)

To make the topping, put the nuts in the bowl of a food processor along with the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Pulse until the nuts are the size of large kernels of corn. Add the cubed butter and pulse until the mixture just starts to stick together in clumps. Don’t overmix—you’re not making cookie dough. I stop it when it looks like this:

If you don’t have a food processor, hand-chop the nuts and use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment to mix all the ingredients together, or mix them by hand in a bowl.

Set the mixture aside until ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Line a baking sheet with foil.

In a 2- to 2 1/2 quart (2-2,5l) baking dish with relatively high sides (I used this one, not an ad — but I have baked crisps using these proportions in 2-quart (2l) dishes, and they work out fine, just make sure the sides are high enough to contain the fruit with room to spare for bubbling fruit juices) mix the quartered apricots and cherries with the sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, and kirsch or almond extract, if using.

Arrange the fruit in an even layer and strew the crisp topping over the top, making sure the topping reaches the sides of the baking dish.

Place the crisp on the baking sheet and bake until the top is deep golden brown and the filling is fully cooked, between 30 and 45 minutes.

Apricot Cherry Crisp

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Notes

-I lightly toast the nuts in a 350ºF/180ºC oven on a baking sheet for 8 minutes, until they smell a little nutty. Since they’re going to get toasted a little more during baking, I tend to toast them a little less than I would if they were going into cookie dough or ice cream.

-Apricots get quite tart when baked. The quantity of sugar used in the filling here proved (after several tests) to be just right for me and my guests. If you feel like you must or should reduce it, you could use 1/4 cup (50g), so feel free to adjust for your taste.

-If you want to use another summer fruit for the filling, you can use as little as 1 tablespoon of sugar if the fruits are sweet, such as peaches and nectarines, and the same amount of cornstarch.

-In place of the cherries, you could add 1 cup (~125g) raspberries, blackberries, or another bushberry. Purists can also leave them out.

-Another nut can be swapped out for the almonds. I’ve not tried this with any other substitutes, but you can find nut-free and gluten-free crisp topping recipes online by searching “nut free crisp topping” and “gluten free crisp topping.”

-You can find a few crisp recipes on my website: Plum-Rhubarb Crisp and Polenta Crisp Topping.

-Feel free to double the topping recipe. It can be refrigerated for up to one week or frozen for several months and is great to have on hand for making another crisp later in the summer, or even in the fall with apples or pears.