This sweet-tart crumble is best served warm, topped with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. To be sure you’re using the freshest berries, you’ll want to choose fruit that has bounce in it. Or you can put it to the water test. Small pockets of air trapped in fresh cranberries make them bounce — and float in water. Ingredients 1/2 cup flour 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar 1/4 cup packed brown sugar 1/4 cup chilled butter, cut into small pieces 6 cups peeled and sliced (about 1/2 inch thick) apples (try Braeburn or Granny Smith) 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries 1/3 cup fresh orange juice 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Instructions

Heat the oven to 375°. Combine the flour, G cup of the sugar, the brown sugar, and the butter in a bowl. Mix the ingredients with your fingertips to create pea-size crumbs. (Alternatively, pulse the mixture in a food processor 10 times or so.)

Combine the apple slices and cranberries in a large bowl. Mix the juice, remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar, and cornstarch in a small bowl. Pour the mixture over the fruit and toss well.

Spoon the fruit into a 2-quart baking dish and sprinkle on the flour mixture. Bake the crumble until bubbly and golden brown, about 40 minutes. Serves 6 to 8.

Ingredients 1/4 cup raisins 1/4 cup dried, sweetened cranberries 1/4 cup chopped walnuts 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. nutmeg Premade pastry for an 8- or 9-inch 2 crust pie 4 small, cored baking apples 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup water

Instructions

Combine the raisins, cranberries, walnuts and spices in a bowl and set aside. On a lightly floured cloth-covered surface, roll out the pastry into a 14-inch square, then cut it into 4 squares. Place a cored apple on top of each square and fill the center with the raisin and cranberry mix.

Cover each apple with its pastry square by bringing the opposite corners up over the fruit and pinching them together. Then, seal together all of the pastry edges, moistening them with water if needed. Place the dumplings in a glass baking dish.

In a saucepan, bring the brown sugar and water to a boil, and then pour it over the dumplings (a parent’s job). Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven, spooning the syrup over the dumplings a few times, until the crust is golden (about 40 minutes).

This tempting apple tart is a reminder that pie isn’t the only way to showcase the best fruits of the season. Just think of a tart as pie’s slimmer cousin. Both start with a rich pastry dough, but fruit tarts typically have less filling and no top crust. Some, such as this one, are made free-form and baked on a cookie sheet. To make a couple of smaller tarts like the one shown, simply divide the dough in half and split the filling between the two shells.

Ingredients

Instructions

1. First, make the dough: combine the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor, then scatter the butter/margerine pieces over the top. Pulse the machine 8 or 9 times, just until the butter/margerine is broken into fine pieces. Do not over-blend it.
2. In a measuring cup with a spout, stir together the water and sour cream. Drizzle the liquid evenly over the flour mixture. Pulse the dough for about 8 short bursts, just until large, packable crumbs form.
3. Dust your hands with flour. Turn the crumbs onto the counter and pack the dough together as you would a snowball.
4. Place the dough onto a large sheet of plastic wrap and flatten it into a 3/4-inch-thick disk. Wrap it in the plastic and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour
5. Get out a large, heavy cookie sheet, preferably one that’s shiny and at least 14 by 16 inches in size. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit it and set the paper aside. Put the cookie sheet in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
6. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge and place it on the parchment. Dust your rolling pin and the dough with flour as needed to prevent sticking, then roll the pastry into a circle roughly 13 1/2 inches across
7. Place the dough and parchment onto the sheet, and place the sheet back in the refrigerator. Move an oven shelf into the center position and heat the oven to 375°.
8. Make the filling: quarter and core 3 of the peeled apples. With a sharp knife, slice the apples thinly — 1/8-inch thick or so. If a child is helping with this step, supervise her closely. Put the slices into a bowl and sprinkle them with the lemon juice. Toss the slices so they’re coated and set them aside.
9. Quarter and core the remaining 2 apples. Cut them into1/4-inch-thick slices, then cut up the slices into fairly uniform 1/4-inch cubes. Place 2 1/2 cups of diced apples in a mixing bowl. Add 1/4 cup of the sugar, the cornstarch, and the cinnamon, and stir well.
10. Put the apricot preserves in a small bowl and stir them briskly with a spoon to smooth out any lumps. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and dot it with the preserves. Use the back of a spoon to gently spread the preserves over the dough, being careful not to tear it. Sprinkle the bread crumbs evenly over the preserves.
11. Pour the diced apples onto the center of the pastry and spread them very evenly across the surface, leaving about a 1 1.2-inch margin of dough at the edge.
12. On top of the diced apples, arrange an overlapping row of apple slices in a circle, making sure the circle isn’t as wide as the diced apples. (This way, the slices won’t poke through the pastry when you fold it up.) Arrange a second circle of slices inside the first, then a third circle for the center of the blossom. Put the tart back in the fridge for 10 minutes to re-firm the pastry.
13. Remove the tart from the refrigerator and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar evenly over the apples. Using the parchment to help you handle the dough, fold the dough in sections up and over the edge of the filling. The dough will form pleats naturally as you make the folds. If the dough tears, just pinch it back together.
14. Bake the tart on the center oven rack until it’s golden brown and bubbly, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. At the 30-minute mark, turn the sheet 180 degrees so that the tart bakes evenly.
15. Remove the tart from the oven. Heat the apple jelly in a microwave until it melts, about 40 seconds. Use a pastry brush to paint the top of the apples with the jelly. Cool the tart on the sheet for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Makes 12 servings.