I’ve Gone Crisp-Crazy!

After all this time….I’m doing it! I’m writing a blog! If you’re wondering why there are two titles, let me explain. My husband is a web/computer/marketing guy, so he’s always saying stuff like “you have to use words people are searching,” while running off to look up the average monthly search volume or some such nonsense. (I’m kidding…I know it’s not nonsense.) Then I look blankly at him and say, “Uh huh….yeah….I think I’m going to name it something fun and whimsical.” So what you see up there is what you call a compromise. Nailed it. 

This summer I was in a serious rut, cooking-wise. I have religiously meal-planned for many years, so I always have what I need to make a dinner of some kind, but in this season when it was time to actually get started, nothing sounded good. I felt uninspired and jaded. I needed a new routine. I decided to start listening to an audiobook while I prepped and cooked dinner, and it really helped me look forward to that part of the day again. I chose Shauna Niequist’s Bread + Wine, and I’ve listened to it over and over again…I’m probably up to about 4 times through by now. It’s….*sigh*…perfect. It makes me laugh, it makes me cry…and it launched me into a full-scale fruit crisp obsession after the first time I heard the chapter “My Mom’s Blueberry Crisp.” Shauna’s mom began a tradition of serving blueberry crisp for dinner on Sunday evenings, warm from the oven and topped with vanilla bean ice cream. She suggests having the fruit filling and topping ready to go in individual freezer bags so you can make a crisp at a moment’s notice. For some reason, this SPEAKS to me. So, I bought a bunch of fruit, made up my freezer bags, and proceeded to have blueberry (or peach) crisp every Sunday night for dinner for weeks. After 5 or 6 weeks of this, I stepped on a scale. All you need to know is now we have crisp about once a month instead.  

As the weather started cooling, my thoughts naturally turned to fall, which turned to Gilmore Girls, which turned to boots, which turned to Thanksgiving, which turned to pumpkin…what? Your thoughts are more linear? Great for you. Mine are a little spaghetti-esque. Sometimes I sit and wonder how I got from thinking about one thing allll the way to another. It can get crazy up there, folks. Anyway, where were we? Ah, pumpkin. Oh how I love pumpkin…and no, I do not mean pumpkin spice flavored everything. Don’t get me started. Did you know the famous coffee chain’s Pumpkin Spice Latte doesn’t even have pumpkin in it? What in the actual heck? Now, I do realize the name is “pumpkin spice,” so it probably just has pumpkin spice…but really, isn’t that a little deceptive? I WANT PUMPKIN! Side note- once I made pumpkin spice latte in a slow cooker with real pumpkin and yeah…they should definitely put pumpkin in their recipe. Delicious. Now for the reason for this blog. I’ve created something! Well, to be a little more accurate, I thought I created something. I usually make the pumpkin dessert with the cake mix sprinkled on top, (I hate saying the name of it. Do you know what I’m talking about?) and while it’s delicious, I find it too sweet for me. Also, over the past few years I have felt like cake mix tastes a little chemical-y. Anyone else? I have no idea what that’s about. That, plus my crisp obsession led me to the idea to create a pumpkin crisp. EXCEPT- a little recipe search has shown me that a bunch of people have already done that. So now I’ll just say I created a different pumpkin crisp recipe. The pumpkin filling is creamy and custardy, the topping is nutty, crisp, and slightly sweet. My favorite way to eat it is room temperature or cold with vanilla ice cream, but others who I tested the recipe on liked it warm. Of course, you can’t go wrong with whipped cream instead of ice cream. My teenage son says you can’t go wrong with ice cream and whipped cream. No, son, I suppose you can’t.

The Perfect Fall Dessert- Gluten Free Pumpkin Crisp

Ingredients: 

Filling

1 (29 ounce) can pumpkin puree

4 large eggs

1 cup white sugar

1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk (or, if you have access to whole fresh milk, I’ve had great         results with that, too.)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

Topping

2 cups oats (if you have Celiac Disease or a wheat allergy, make sure you use certified gluten free oats, due to the possibility of cross contamination with flour)

1 cup walnuts or pecans

1 cup brown sugar

1 stick butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8×8 metal or glass pan with butter. Place pan on a cookie sheet in case of spills. Place oven rack in top third of oven.

In a large mixing bowl, mix all the filling ingredients together and whisk until smooth. Pour into greased pan.

In another large bowl, mix together all the topping ingredients (your hands work great for this, and give your skin a little buttery moisture mask) and sprinkle evenly over the filling mixture. 

Bake in preheated oven for 35-45 minutes, starting to check for doneness at 35 minutes by inserting butter knife down into filling. When the knife is clean, the crisp is done. Top with ice cream and/or whipped cream and enjoy!

~s