Celebrate Groundhog Day with Cherry Cranberry Crisp!

Groundhog Day is near and dear to my heart. Maybe it’s because I grew up in Pennsylvania where Punxatawney Phil was a pretty big deal. There’s another reason, which embarrasses my brothers when I talk about it, so you’ll just have to read my Groundhog Day blog post from two years ago where I explain it all. Be forewarned — it involves sex.

Since there is no official dessert for Groundhog day, I’m making one up. Cherry-Cranberry Crisp – it has all the flavor of cherry pie filling with the tartness of cranberries, and tastes great with vanilla ice cream.  It’s perfect for that bag of cranberries you still have in the freezer and it can double as a President’s Day dessert too! George Washington and Abe Lincoln would have loved it and I’m fairly certain serving it can bring about world peace.

If you don’t have a bag of cranberries in the freezer, this is a good excuse to go buy some. Some stores still have fresh ones, but frozen work fine too.

I found this recipe years ago in an ad for Comstock cherry pie filling. It was for Cherry Cranberry Pie, but is even easier and very tasty as a crisp, so that’s what I make when I need a quick dessert. And this recipe makes enough crisp topping for two pies, so you can just save half in the freezer for the next time you feel like baking a crisp.

I was doing fairly well on my New Year plan to eat less dessert, but this dessert nipped that right in the bud.

Cherry Cranberry Crisp
Crumble Topping
1 cup flour
2 cups whole, uncooked Quaker Oats
1 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick melted butter (not unsalted)
Mix together dry ingredients, then add melted butter with fork, stirring to make sure all ingredients are combined.  It should look pebbly. This is enough to cover two pies or crisps.
Set the topping aside and mix together:

Cherry Cranberry Filling

1 can of cherry pie filling
2 cups of fresh or frozen cranberries rinsed
3/4 cup of sugar
2 Tbsp corn starch
Thoroughly mix together, pie filling, rinsed cranberries, sugar and corn starch in a large mixing bowl. Then pour them into a buttered, deep dish pie pan or casserole dish.  Sprinkle 1/2 of the topping over the cherry cranberry filling, just to cover it. Don’t make the topping too thick. Freeze the other topping for later use.  Bake at 350 for one hour to an hour and 10 minutes, or until filling bubbles.  If topping starts looking too brown, cover it lightly with a piece of foil.
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Share with friends and strangers and watch world peace ensue.