Comfort Food in 5 Minutes: Nuked Fruit Crisp

Fruit crisp made with frozen peaches and granola

Everyone loves hot pie, but rarely do our schedules allow us the hour plus time it takes to cut and peel four or five apples, roll out dough, and bake it in the oven.  With a microwave, however, you can get the same sweet warm feeling in a single serving in under five 5 minutes.  This has been one of my go-to dishes for about a year now.  Usually I make it as a late-night snack when I take breaks from studying (or, you know, stalking people on facebook and trolling the "Mad Men" message board on IMDB).  Over the past month, however, I've found my nuked cobbler a fruity alternative to the standard, everyday oatmeal when I have to grab breakfast on the run.

There are a lot of different ways to go about this kind of dish, and mine varies depending on what I have on hand.  Normally I use old-fashioned oats squished together with brown sugar and Earth Balance veggie butter for the base of the topping, but I've also found this to be a great way to use up leftover granola.   Or for a more traditional cobbler topping, you can cream together butter, sugar, flour, and milk.

For the filling, the options are infinite.  I usually use apples because that's what I always have on hand, but I've also had excellent results throwing in peaches and sliced bananas.  And if you don't want to use white sugar, you can always sub agave, maple syrup, or honey.

The point is, this kind of a dish is far from an exact science.  If you don't have everything listed, don't panic:  wonderful discoveries can be made in the case of last-minute substitutions.  Necessity is the mother of of invention, and in this case, warm heavenly fruitniness.

Nuked Five-Minute Fruit Crisp

Fruit Filling:

1 cup sliced apples, peaches, pears, or any other pie fruit
1 tsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Optional:
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp basil (it came from Martha Stewart!)
Splash of fresh lemon juice
1 tsp chopped nuts
1 tsp raisins

Topping:
1 T granola
or
1 T old-fashioned oats
1 T butter or margarine
1 T brown sugar
1 tsp flour

Combine filling ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl, plastic container, or coffee cup.  Cream together topping ingredients and spread on top of fruit.  Microwave for 3-4 minutes.  Enjoy!