Fresh Pineapple Crisp

Last Friday, my friend invited me over for a small Shabbat dinner and asked me to bring the dessert.  Since snow was in the forecast, I decided to bring something a little bit tropical to make everyone forget the dreary weather outside.  And what's more tropical than a pineapple?



This recipe is a fun twist on the traditional crisp.  I do love a good apple crisp, but the apples at my grocery store are not looking so hot these days, and the berries are expensive this time of year.  Pineapples, on the other hand, must be in season somewhere in the world because they were sweet, juicy, and on sale at my grocery store!  I'd never thought to use them in a crisp before, but they were a fun surprise for everyone at dinner, who'd expected something a bit more traditional.



This dessert definitely turned out good - everyone at the dinner seemed to enjoy it - but it wasn't my favorite of all time.  I found the pineapple to be really sweet - and although I usually enjoy sweet, it was a bit much for me.  I would not recommend using canned pineapple for this because I think it would amplify the sweetness even more.  The ice cream helped to counteract the sweetness a little bit, but if I made this again I'd probably add some fresh mango and papaya, maybe even some kiwi, to keep the tropical theme but cut down on the sweetness.



The topping was also good, but not great.  My mom has a crisp topping somewhere that I need to find - it's thicker and more buttery - which of course means better. The only complaint I got was that there wasn't enough topping (isn't that always the case with crisps?) so I'd probably amp that up a bit as well.  Still, we found our bit of beach on an otherwise snowy night, and I think it was a pretty excellent ending to a delicious Friday night dinner with friends.



Fresh Pineapple Crisp
from Heather's Dish

Ingredients
filling
1 whole pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
topping
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
4 Tbsp butter (I used it right out of the fridge)
1/2 tsp sea salt

Instructions
1. Preheat your oven to 375.  Butter a 9x9 baking dish.
2. In a big bowl toss together the pineapple, 2 Tbsp flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon and stir until the flour is coating all of the pineapple. Pour into buttered 9×9 dish.
3. In another bowl combine the oats, 1/4 cup flour, sugar, butter and salt, and using your fingers press the butter into the ingredients until the final mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle evenly on top of the pineapple.
4. Bake at 375 for 30-45 minutes until the pineapple is bubbly and the top is golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream.