Dried Cranberry Apple Crisp

When I posted on Facebook the news of our pregnancy, an old friend from high school sent me a message and let me know that she, too, was pregnant. As our due dates were just fourteen days apart, it became absolutely necessary to get reacquainted with one another! So we met for dinner one Monday night at The District and started catching up on the last ten years. Who we'd married, where we worked, how pregnancy was treating us. Before I knew it, we were in the same birth class, and I had a new-old friend back in my life!

Rachel and her husband, Chip, came over to the house on Sunday night for dinner. It was great to be able to talk about pregnancy and the scariness of giving birth, but it was equally great to be able to talk about things that had nothing to do with pregnancy! Jason and I had a great time with them, and I imagine this only the beginning of our second-round friendship.

For dinner, we had homemade lasagna much like the one I wrote about here, but I made homemade tomato sauce and used the homemade basil lasagna noodles I'd made the previous weekend. For dessert, I made a crisp because it didn't require a trip to the grocery store, and I was able to make a dent in the dozen or so apples taking up space in our fruit bowl.

As an aside, Mom came over in that afternoon so we could run errands together. I sent her home with two ramekins of crisp, and today I got this little ditty from Dad:

The apple crisp was so delicious
And the cute little ramekins
Make handy cat dishes
For Ziggy and Muffins

Dried Cranberry Apple Crisp
inspired by epicurious

Serves 8

Preheat oven 400º

In a small saucepan, bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat:
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup water
1 cinnamon stick
Let cook for about 10 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed by the cranberries. Remove from heat and toss out cinnamon stick.

Place the cranberries in a large bowl with:
6 small apples, peeled, cored, and diced
Evenly combine. Distribute fruit between eight one-cup ramekin dishes. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine to form a coarse meal:
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup sliced almonds, diced
1 cup oatmeal
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
pinch salt
Distribute the topping evenly amongst the ramekin dishes (about 1/4 cup for each).

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the fruit is tender and the topping golden brown.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Eat up!