Cranberry Persimmon Crisp

This cranberry persimmon crisp will tick all the cozy boxes for when cold weather hits. This easy dessert features tart cranberries and sweet persimmons topped with a simple oat crisp. This recipe is wonderful served with dairy-free yogurt or vanilla ice cream.

Jump to:

• Why this recipe works
• Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
• Step by Step Overview
• Helpful Tips
• Storage and Make Ahead
• Frequently Asked Questions
• More Recipes
• Cranberry Persimmon Crisp

Why this recipe works

Persimmons and cranberries pair beautifully with a hint of orange and cinnamon in this comforting dessert. The colours are spectacular and the warming spices make a nice contrast to the grey cold skies and snow that often comes with colder weather.

The crisp topping is made from a base of flour, rolled oats and almond flour—it's just sweet enough to counteract the tartness of the fruit and it has a nice crisp clumpy texture to balance the soft filling. If you're a fan of the more classic crisps, you'll love this one too. Plus, you get the benefit of using seasonally appropriate ingredients during the fall and winter months (move over blueberry cobbler). Like traditional fruit crisps, this one is also lovely served with vanilla ice cream, yogurt or traditional or dairy-free whipped cream.

Ingredient Notes & Substitutions

For the full list of ingredients, please visit the recipe card below. Here is a list of the key ingredients along with notes and substitutions.

Fresh Cranberries: You want to source the freshest cranberries possible. They should be very tart, light and colourful without blemishes or wrinkles. Give them a good wash and dry beforehand. Alternatively, you can use frozen cranberries in equal measure (see recipe faqs below).

Persimmons: Use ripe persimmons, especially if you're using the hachiya variety. Ripe hachiya persimmons will be quite soft to the touch, turn a dark orange-red colour, and should be sweet. Fuyu persimmons can be eaten while still slightly firm. Persimmons, especially hachiya persimmons, often have tiny black dots throughout when ripe, almost like vanilla speckles. These are perfectly safe to eat and though the appearance may not be as nice, the flavour is the same.

Granulated sugar: This is to sweeten the filling. If you want a more caramel flavour, use brown sugar or coconut sugar in place of white sugar. You can also use honey or maple syrup for a milder sweet flavour. Alternatively, you can add up to 2 more tablespoons of sugar if you prefer a sweeter crisp.

Orange juice: I prefer fresh squeezed orange juice, however you can use store bought orange juice if you prefer (note that the latter tends to be more acidic and less sweet). For this recipe you can typically get the amount required from one large navel orange. If you want to enhance the tart flavour of this crisp, you could opt for lemon juice or a mix of half lemon and half orange juice.

All-purpose flour: This helps the crisp form nice crumbly and coarse textured clumps. For a more wholesome crisp, use whole wheat, whole wheat pastry or spelt flour in the topping. You can sub oat flour (or a 1:1 GF blend) for a gluten free version.

Rolled oats: these add flavour, crunchy texture and heartiness to the crisp topping.

Almond flour: I use fine ground almond flour. It also adds texture and flavour to the crumble topping.

Brown sugar: adds a nice caramel like flavour to the crisp topping.

Ground cinnamon: this adds a warming, cozy flavour to the crumble topping.

Coconut oil: Feel free to sub butter in for the coconut oil if you don't need the crisp to be vegan. Alternatively, you can use a vegan butter, however, because most vegan butter is salted, I would suggested halving the amount of salt in the recipe.

Step by Step Overview

For the full detailed instructions on how to make this cranberry persimmon crisp, please see the recipe card further down in the post.

STEP 1: Preheat the oven and then combine the chopped persimmons, cranberries, orange juice, and sugar. Stir to combine and set aside.

STEP 2: In another bowl combine the flour, almond flour, oats, cinnamon, sugar and salt.

STEP 3: Using a pastry blender (or your hands) work and squeeze the softened coconut oil into the flour and oat mixture until you have a texture resembling moist sand with larger pea-sized crumbs.

STEP 4: Pour the fruit mixture into a baking dish and spoon the oat crisp evenly over top.

STEP 5: Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until the top is slightly golden and the juices bubble up. Allow to cool before serving.

Helpful Tips

• Use a baking tray under the dish while it bakes. This will help catch any juices that bubble over so they don't land on the bottom of your oven.

• Fresh and frozen cranberries can be used interchangeably. You can either thaw the fruit before preparing the recipe or use it straight from the freezer. Just know that frozen fruits release more juice while baking. As such, it's really important to place a large baking sheet underneath the baking dish while in the oven to prevent it spilling out onto the bottom of the oven.

• Peeling the persimmons is optional. However, if your persimmons aren't fully ripe, or you're unsure, opt to peel them for this recipe. They have a skin very similar to apples so whether you choose to peel the skin or not is entirely optional.

• Let the persimmon and cranberry filling mixture sit for minimum 20 minutes or up to an hour before baking to help extract the juices. Alternatively, you can make the filling ahead of time as per below. The longer the fruit can macerate, the more juicy the filling will be.

• The crumble is baked once the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. I Like using a glass dish for baking crisps whenever possible for this reason, because you can see the bubbles around the edges. If you don't have a glass baking dish, you can just look for bubbles breaking through the surface of the crumble.

• Use softened but not liquefied coconut oil. This will help with blending the coconut into the crumble topping.

Storage and Make Ahead

Storage: store the baked persimmon cranberry crisp in the fridge with an airtight cover on top for up to three days. The topping will lose the crisp texture as it sits, so I recommend eating it the same day it is baked. It can be warmed and crisped up in the oven at 250°F for 8-10 minutes or until heated through and the top is fairly crispy again.

Make Ahead: The cranberry and persimmon mixture can be mixed and left to macerate covered in the fridge for 8-12 hours in advance.

For additional information on safe food handling and storage, please visit: the Government of Canada Food Safety website, USDA Food Safety Inspection Agency website or your country's official food safety website.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Recipes

Vegan cranberry orange muffins

Vegan Baked Apples with Oat Streusal

Vegan Rhubarb Oat Crumble

If you made my vegan cranberry persimmon crisp please leave me a comment below with a star rating; it really helps others who are interested in making the recipe. For more from The Simple Green, follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest. Consider becoming a subscriber to receive emails of new recipes and posts.