APRICOT CHERRY MINI CRISPS…there’s joy in blogging!

Summer’s here in full swing, & we’re slowly seeing the market getting flooded with ‘stone fruits’. It began with mangoes, then cherries, & now it’s apricots. Peaches are beginning to surface as well, but haven’t reached the ‘fully ripe’ & ‘lusciously juicy’ stage yet. This is what I love about summer in North India … all the fruit from the fruit basket in the Himalayas that reach the plains in much abundance. Very yummy situation indeed … It’s one of those rare days that I bake, & then try & blog about it within 24 hours … but these were so good, that I feel compelled to. I spent a large part of day-before trying to find a recipe to use the fresh apricots that I had bought, but weren’t quite as sweet as I expected them to be. From one fruit board to another, hopping between Food Network & Epicurean, nothing was the ‘one‘. There was clafoutis on my list, but that has egg, & I wanted egg less.Then late at at night, while twittering & blog surfing, stopped by at No Fear Entertaining, a blog which belongs to wonderful & enthusiastic Judy…BOING…found it! She posted a ‘First of the Season Georgia Peach Pie‘ … & it clicked instantly. This is what my apricots would need to get into. A tweet later, after confirming with Judy whether she thought apricots might work, which she tweetly did, I went to bed with sweet dreams.
As it often happens with me, woke up the next morning, & went straight to my cupboard for my little ramekins. I was going to make mini crisps sans the pie base, using Judy’s recipe. Great idea & very satisfying indeed. When you hand individually set desserts out to a bunch of folk, who enjoy this fruity delight to the last crumb, then proceed to lick the juices off the bowl, you just know it’s very good, & is going to be made again & again.
Rummaged around in the fridge & came out with a bowl of cherries. Yes, they were going to keep the apricots company … squish, squish. The pitting of the cherries was a bit tedious, but the very thought of all the fruit getting deliciously cooked under the crisp kept me going.
Pitted the cherries (by hand), halved & pitted the apricots, & I was set. The rest of the process was a breeze, so I wasted a little time clicking merrily because I love fruity colours! Judy poured her filling into a pie shell for the peach pie. I just went for a basic fruit crumble; light & juicy. Just so right for our summer here!Bubble bubble … they came out of the oven in 30 minutes all deliciously bubbly & oozing wickedly from the sides. Because it is very HOT here, I cooled & refrigerated them, & served them with a dollop of whipped, unsweetened, low fat cream. They are also wonderful warm, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
APRICOT & CHERRY MINI CRISPS
as adapted from Judy @ No Fear Entertaining
Ingredients:
3 tbsp flour
1/2 cup vanilla sugar ( I make mine in a jar, & love using it)
500gms apricots, halved & pitted
250gms cherries, pitted
Juice of 1/2 lime
Topping:
1/2 cup vanilla sugar ( I ran out of brown sugar)
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup rolled oats
4 tbsp butter, chilled
Method:

• Preheat oven to 190C.
• In a large bowl, combine flour & sugar; stir in the apricots, cherries & lime juice & toss to coat well. You can taste the sugar here just in case the fruit are a bit tart.
• Spoon portions into ramekins (or into a large pie dish if making 1 big portion).

• For the topping: In a small bowl, combine vanilla sugar , flour and rolled oats. Cut in the butter until crumbly. Sprinkle a couple of tbsp ot topping over each ramekin, pressing down gently to seal the top.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes till the top is light brown & fruit juices are bubbling. (or about 40 minutes if you are using a single/big pie dish). Makes 8 small ramekins or a 9″ crumble.
• Serve warm or cold. A dollop of unsweetened whipped cream, or a scoop of vanilla ice-cream make this crumble unforgettable!