I’m sure I’m not the only one who buys fruit and then forgets to eat it. We’ve been on this big fruit kick and actually starting buying fruit from Costco. Surprisingly, the quality there is better than the grocery store close to my house. The drawback is a dozen apricots are hard to eat before they go soft. I had about 10 apricots that were on the cusp of going bad and decided I’d make a quick dessert to use them up. This yummy cherry and apricot crisp takes about 5 minutes to prepare and another 20 to bake. Even better… its pretty healthy! My type of dessert!

Cherry & Apricot Crisp
(adapted from The Essential Baker, Carole Bloom)

1/2 lb cherries, washed, dried and stems and pits removed
1 lb fresh apricots, washed and dried
2/3 c rolled oats
1/2 c firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
2 oz (4 tbsp) cold unsalted butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place the cherries into an 8 x 8 inch square pan. Using a sharp knife, slice the apricots in half along the seam. Remove the stone and cut each half into quarters. Place the apricots in the baking pan. Toss the cherries and apricots together lightly to mix evenly.

3. In the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade, combine the oats, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and pulse briefly to blend.

4. Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the dry ingredients. Pulse until the butter is cut into very small pieces, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Evenly sprinkle the topping over the fruit in the baking pan.

5. Bake the crisp for 25 to 30 minutes, until the topping is light golden. Remove the pan from the oven and transfer to a rack to cool. Serve with whipped cream.

Makes 8-10 servings

Note: You can use nectarines, peaches or apricots in this recipe.