Classic Cranberry Apple Crisp

The classic cranberry apple crisp has been a whopping success twice; once at Ol' Dave's famous Montgomery fish fry (or shall we call it more of a "nursing home gathering"?) and once at the past Thanksgiving dinner with the many aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Blake and I first found the recipe in the good and trusted Houston Chronicle and flung the casual dessert together in no more than thirty minutes, which brought us great praise from our oh so flattering family and friends living Montgomery. We knew the recipe had been a keeper when the pan was licked clean and about twenty other desserts on the dessert table had gone untouched. If the dessert had passed the "this-beats-my-grandmother's-apple-pie-any-day test"  then for sure it would be good enough for the fam. Therefore, my grandma and I made it for Thanksgiving dinner, which turned out to be an even bigger hit when paired with home-made whipped cream.

My dad is a down-to-earth and true southern man loving anything "Betty Crocker" style home-made desserts. From pineapple upside down cake and pumpkin pie, to coconut cream pie and banana pudding. But he now has a new favorite that has climbed its way to his top 10 list of best desserts thanks to my new cranberry-apple crisp recipe. This recipe is great to make as a true southern dessert. It may not appear as decadent and chic as the tiramisu cake or english scones, but heck this is one that taste triumphs over appearance any day! However, my personal chef slash grandma gave me the grand idea of adding a pop of color and flavor by adding a dollop of fresh, home-made whipped cream on top. (Which really "topped" this crisp off!...hah!)

Ingredients: 

3 cups chopped unpeeled apples

2 cups fresh cranberries

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups uncooked quick-cooking oats (preferably maple sugar flavored) 

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup each: all-purpose flour and chopped pecans

1/2 cup melted margarine

whipped cream:

one small carton of whipping cream or heavy whipping cream

two to three tablespoons of granulated sugar 

LETS COOK!

for the crisp: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine apples, cranberries and sugar in 2-quart rectangular pan. In a separate bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, flour, pecans and margarine. Top fruit mixture with oat mixture. Bake 45 min. or until bubbly and light brown. Serve with whipped topping

for the whipped cream:

pour all of the whipping cream into a medium sized bowl. Blend with an electric mixer for a LONG time! mix together until light and fluffy and no longer appears "liquidy". *but be very careful that it is not over mixed or it might start to form butter* once whipped, gently fold in sugar and stir well before serving.