And yes, this baked fruit dessert is mess-free. And it cooks in a 9×13 pan. Bonus: Your house will smell amazing.
Do you, like me, periodically go through your fruit drawer and wonder why you bought so many apples? Or pears? Or plums?
Some weeks I have the kids complaining that “maaaaaaaa there is no good fruit!!!” and some week the “good fruit” I bought, with said kids in mind, stays untouched and it makes me sad.
This is the story behind how this recipe was born. Don’t we all know that necessity is the mother of invention?
So this is what I do: Winter or summer, every other week, I pull out every fruit from the crisper and select the ones that seem like they are on their way out. And I put together this fabulous dish that is healthy, sugar-free, delicious and will make your house smell amazing. Serve it for dessert on Friday night; it’s perfect after a heavy meal with a cup of tea or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Obviously, you can go buy the fruit and prepare it exactly as written. But, in my house, the recipe differs a bit every week. It all depends what was in that fruit drawer, and what season we are in: the winter it is mostly apples, pears, and fresh cranberries (love those! They add that surprising tang) and in the summer the different varieties of plums take center stage.
- As I wrote before, this recipe will be very different every time. It will depend on the season you are in and on the quality of the fruit. Amounts are approximate too.
- Fill a 9- x 13-inch pan ¾ up with sliced fruit. Apples, plums, peaches, pears and fresh cranberries work well.
- Add the juice of 1 lemon.
- Sprinkle with ground cinnamon to taste ( I do 1 heaping teaspoon).
- Add ½ cup of water, cover, and bake at 350ºF for 30 minutes.
- Uncover and bake for another 45 minutes, stirring from time to time. You want the fruit to be cooked but not too mushy.
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