Apple, Cranberry and Gingersnap Crumble

Before moving to Wisconsin I had never baked a cake from scratch in my life. I undertook my first cake from Smitten Kitchen for Geeky Dude's 30th birthday, a chocolate cake with peanut butter cream cheese frosting and a chocolate ganche glaze...3-layers. No big deal, or anything.

Amazingly, the cakes didn't fall, the chocolate ganache didn't seize up, and the cream cheese frosting wasn't lumpy. I had succeeded, and thus began my love for baking...and my stalking of Deb over at Smitten Kitchen....because seriously, her recipes are amazing.

Today's recipe is an adaptation of her Pear Cranberry and Gingersnap Crumble which I've also made and found amazing. I didn't have pears, however so I changed it to apples and made an Easter Apple Crumble which everyone gobbled up with some vanilla ice cream. Yum!

Soooo tasty!

Apple, Cranberry and Gingersnap Crumble
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Crumble
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup  granulated sugar
1/4 cup  packed dark or light brown sugar
1 cup gingersnap crumbs (about 16 cookies)
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon table salt
Pinch of white pepper, important if your gingersnaps aren't particulary...gingersnapish? (White pepper is used for looks, if you don't have it you can use regular black pepper)
1/2 cup  unsalted butter, melted and cooled

This is the hard way...the easy way is with a food processor

Filling
3 pounds granny smith apples (about 5 fairly large apples)
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoon cornstarch

Just a few ingredients on the way to tasty!

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Stir together the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, gingersnap crumbs, ginger and salt. Stir in the melted butter until large crumbs form.

In a 1 1/2 to 2 quart baking dish, mix the pears, cranberries, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk the sugar and cornstarch together then toss it with the fruit mixture in the pan. 

Sprinkle the gingersnap crumble over the fruit. Set the crumble on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake it for about 45 minutes, until the crumble is a shade darker and you see juices bubbling through the crumbs.

***Changes/Alterations***  We didn't have ground ginger. Oops! Oh well, we added extra gingersnap crumbs and it was still quite tasty. :)