Baked Winter Fruit

Baked winter fruit
by Debra Samuels for The Boston Globe
March 2, 2011

Serves 4

This baked winter fruit dish falls somewhere between a crisp and a compote. It uses some dried fruits, which are usually simmered in liquid. But whatever fresh fruits you have on hand can go into the dish, even those starting to show brown spots. Add pears, apples, raisins, cranberries, and nuts, all cut into chunks and tossed with juice from a clementine. Before baking, top with brown sugar and cinnamon. Bring it to the table hot with a spoonful of vanilla yogurt for a healthy dessert, or spoon the fruits on a bowl of hearty oatmeal, the definition of hearty winter breakfast.

1 ripe pear, quartered, cored, and cut into 2-inch pieces
2 medium apples, quartered, cored, and cut into 2-inch pieces
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup dried cranberries
8 pitted prunes
1/2 cup walnuts or slivered almonds
Juice of 1 clementine (about 1/2 cup)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Set oven at 350 degrees. Have on hand an 8-by-8-inch baking dish.

2. In a bowl toss the pear, apples, raisins, cranberries, prunes, walnuts or slivered almonds, and clementine juice. Transfer to the baking dish. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Cover loosely with foil.

3. Bake for 25 minutes. Lift off the foil and continue baking for 5 minutes or until the fruits are tender when pierced with a skewer.

Adapted from Norma Currie
© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.