The best and easiest cranberry crisp (and it can help clear your pantry!)

Back in November, did the grocery store convince you to buy two bags of cranberries? One for Thanksgiving and one to “freeze for later”? I mean, I get that they need to sell cranberries, but I don’t love this promotion because I suspect that many people buy that extra bag of cranberries, but then forget about them and ultimately throw them away when they’ve succumbed to freezer burn.

Maybe I’m wrong? And everyone else is super organized about using that extra bag of cranberries? But in any event, if you have a forgotten bag of cranberries in your freezer, make this recipe! Or, buy cranberries to make this recipe! I think it is a top notch Thanksgiving dessert and I make it every year. 

In fact, this cranberry crisp is perhaps one of my favorite desserts ever. I have literally spent years trying to find the right combination of crisp, spice and fruit and I think this nails it. One disclaimer: this is really heavy on the crisp, by request from my husband who can take or leave the fruit part. That’s just his view though. I love the tart, but not mouth-puckering cranberries in this dessert. 

As with all recipes on EatOrToss, this one is flexible. You’ll see it calls for a 12-ounce bag of cranberries. A little more or a little less would be fine. You can also safely toss in some diced apple (I added two diced apples last time I made this), which will basically disappear in the final dish. Other fruit, or even dried fruit, could work too. I think pecans are the best nut for a solid crisp, but you could experiment with other nuts too. And on and on. I’ve noted flexible points throughout the recipe instructions.  If you make any adjustments, let me know how it goes! 

I like this crisp so much that I’m not sure I’ll ever be motivated to bake a fruit pie. This is absolutely delicious and it’s way easier! (Easy as pie, you might say, except easier.) Plus, it’s filled with whole grains and nuts, so it’s tastier and nutritionally superior, right? Also, I’m calling this an “easy cranberry crisp,” but you could also call it the “best cranberry crumble” (got that, search engine bots?). 

Finally, credit, where credit is due: I found inspiration from The Attic on Eighth and Home Sick Texan for this recipe, though I seriously upped the volume of the crisp to accommodate my crisp-obsessed husband, and fiddled with some other ingredients to streamline and suit my family’s taste. 

Onward to the recipe!

Easy cranberry crisp

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• Author: Rachael Jackson

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Ingredients

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For the crisp:

• 1 ⅓  cup rolled oats

• ½  cup pecans (or other nuts, or a mix of nuts)

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 2/3 cup granulated sugar

• 2/3 cup brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves.

• a pinch of salt

• 12 tablespoons melted butter. Ideally slightly cooled by the time you’re ready to use it). Honestly, this seems like a lot of butter to me. I may try 10 tablespoons next time and see how it goes.

For the fruit layer:

• 12 ounce bag of cranberries (Potentially less if you use other fruit options below)

• Other crisp-friendly fruit. In addition to or instead of some of the cranberries above, you could use diced apples, pear, pitted cherries or maybe blueberries. Olivia at the Attic on Eighth says she aims for 4 ½ cups fresh cranberries, but has subbed with dried cranberries in the past, she just soaks them first and uses less sugar. A few splashes of cranberry juice could also help).

• 1 cup granulated sugar (for 12 ounces of cranberries, this is the ideal amount of sugar to keep things tart, but not mouthpuckering. You may want to add less sugar if you’re using a significant amount of other fruits).

• a pinch of salt

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch (in a pinch you can skip this, but it does help thicken the filling; I may experiment with a version without it – will report back!)

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 fahrenheit and grease an 11×7-inch baking dish (or whatever baking dish suits you. I like 11×7 because it results in lots of surface area of crisp.)

2. Rinse the cranberries, assuming the package says you need to do so.

3. Combine all the filling ingredients in a pot and simmer for about 15 minutes then set aside to cool. (To save time, you could skip this simmering step and just mix them in the dish you’ll be baking everything in, but no guarantees on how it will turn out.)

4. While the fruit is simmering/cooling, grind the pecans and oats in a food processor. I think you might be able to skip this step if you’re in a hurry, but I think grinding them will result in an even more delicious crisp. All that said, a “rough grind” is sufficient; some pieces of pecan are delicious in the finished crisp.

5. Mix the ground pecans and oats with the rest of the dry ingredients; you can do this in the food processor if it’s big enough (mine is not).

6.  Stir in the melted butter.

7. Pour the fruit mixture into the baking dish. Spread the crumble on top.

8. Bake for 20 – 30 minutes, until the filling is bubbling and the crisp is browning.

9. Eat it plain or with ice cream (I like it plain!)