Summer Fruit Crisp

I went to my parents' house last night for a belated Father's Day celebration, and when I got there, I found that my mom had made a special gluten-free apple crisp for dessert! She had adapted a recipe from a Cooking with Kids cookbook to make it and used the only gluten-free flour she had on-hand, which was potato starch. It turned out to be wonderful, and even my brother liked it (most of my family politely decline when I offer them a taste of anything gluten-free), so much so that he even had seconds! I thought this was a delicious dessert, and if you omit the egg and substitute Earth Balance Buttery Spread (or something comparable), you could easily adapt this to be a vegan recipe (although my mom said that the texture would suffer without the egg and might not be crumbly anymore). Also, feel free not to use only apples; this recipe would be wonderful with pears, peaches, or any other fruit (or combination thereof). My family topped theirs with ice cream, and I used my Vanilla Rice Dream (which is perhaps the only food I can leave at my parents' house with absolutely no concerns about someone else eating it!). So here is my mom's adaptation of the recipe:




Summer Fruit Crisp

10-12 cups sliced apples (or other fruit)
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
1 cup + 5 tbsp. potato starch, divided (or your favorite gf flour/flour blend)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. gf baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
Cooking Spray

Preheat oven to 375 F. Make sure the rack is in the middle of the oven.

Grease the inside of an 9''x13'' square baking pan with Wesson Oil. Take 1/3 cup sugar and 3 tbsp. potato starch and mix together. Mix the fruit with this mixture (10-12 cups of sliced apples). Pat the fruit into the bottom of the pan. Then take about 1 cup potato starch + 2 tbsp. and mix with 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt and mix together well. Beat one egg in a separate bowl and mix it into the dry mixture first using a fork, and then use your hands to mix it further until it turns into a nice, crumbly mixture. Sprinkle the mixture over the apples. Bake for about 30 min., check for doneness, and if it needs more time, turn it around and bake for about 10 more minutes until brown on top and the sides are bubbling. Turn the oven off and let it sit in the oven until you are ready to serve it; this is best eaten warm. Top with vanilla ice cream or Vanilla Rice Dream (and sprinkle cinnamon over the whole thing, if desired).

**I have also seen recipes for gluten-free crisps using Quinoa flakes, or if you tolerate gluten-free oats, you could top this with one of these as well.

**If you prefer to make a smaller crisp, I believe the original recipe called for using 6 cups of fruit with an 8"x8" pan, so you could probably just halve the entire recipe in that case.