Cranberry Apple Walnut Crunch

I know I have talked about how my doctor has requested me to eat lots of sugary, fatty dessert and how I have done my best to follow this. But eating cakes, tartlettes, ice cream, etc gets old pretty fast when you’re eating them every day. Plus, I have to prepare and bake all these treats. Thank goodness it’s now Halloween season. I loaded up on candy and have been snacking on that all throughout the day. I bought one of those fun, plastic jack-o-lantern trick or treat holders, and I keep it on the table beside the couch so it’s near me and I can reach over and eat some candy whenever I want. But this post isn’t about candy, nor my snacking on it; it’s about me finally getting in the kitchen and baking something.

Our weather temperatures are starting to drop to a comfortable mid-70 degrees, so it’s actually starting to feel like fall (at least in the mornings and evenings). Trying to get into the spirit of the season, I thought I’d make some kind of fall-ish dessert. I love cranberries and decided to make some kind of dessert using them. I didn’t really follow a recipe, I just looked at some recipes I had for fruit crisps, cobblers, and crumbles and kind of combined some of them to make this. It turned out so tasty. I wish I would’ve have made some whipped cream or bought some ice cream for topping, that would have made it even better.



Cranberry Apple Walnut Crunch
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10 oz bag cranberries (I used frozen)
2 apples, cored and diced (I used Gala)
~2 Tbsp orange juice (I just added a couple splashes)
1-2 tsp cornstarch
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 c rolled oats (I used an oat multi-grain cereal)
¼ c brown sugar
¼ c sugar
1/3 c whole wheat flour (all purpose is fine, too)
~¼ tsp cinnamon
a bit of freshly grated nutmeg
6 Tbsp butter, cut up and chilled
~¼ c chopped walnuts
1 Tbl ground flaxseed meal (opt)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Butter an 8x8 (or similar) baking dish.

In medium bowl combine cranberries, apples, orange juice, sugar and cornstarch; toss to combine. Spread fruit mixture evenly in baking dish.

In a separate bowl, combine oats, both sugars, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. With pastry blender (or two knives) cut butter pieces into dry ingredients until pea-sized clumps form. Stir in walnuts. Add ground flaxseed if using. Sprinkle mixture evenly over fruit.

Place baking dish in oven and bake for 45 minutes or until apples have cooked down and begun to caramelize. Topping should be golden brown and liquid bubbling around the edges.

Remove from oven and let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. Store leftovers in airtight container.