Muscadine Crisp

Mmmmm Mmmmm Mmmmmmm… muscadines. I love muscadines. They are the South’s perfect grape variety. Just like a true southerner, they are sweet, yet tough. These sweet grapes along with their close relatives, the scuppernogs,are flooding the markets right now and just waiting for you to pick them up and make something awesome. Along with this recipe for a muscadine crisp I’m about to share, muscadines and scuppernogs are great fruits to use for making jam, wine, a salad dressing, or just to eat raw.

Some vendors with muscadines + scuppernogs are Mealor Family Gardens at the Decatur market on Wednesday and Saturday as well as Mountain Earth Farms on Sunday at Grant Park. I believe I also saw some at Scharko Farms table at EAV on Thursday. But ask around and pick some up before they run out!

A few things to note before embarking on this muscadine crisp… You must remove the seeds before baking. If you do not, you will have little bitter surprises throughout eating your crisp, and it is not a fun surprise. So when you slice the muscadines to separate the pulp from the skin, just squeeze out the seeds.

The crisp topping I made is also the base for my homemade granola. You are welcome to add any nuts or seeds to this mix.

Muscadine Crisp

Servings 2-4 Time 50 min

1 pint muscadines/scuppernogs, washed, pitted, and separated (pulp from skin)
1 cup oats
1/4 c pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup almonds, chopped
2 TBS flax seeds
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 TBS cinnamon (any spice you’d like)
1 tsp salt
5 TBS butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes + more for buttering dish
1 TBS coconut oil (or canola/vegetable oil)

preheat oven to 350 degrees F. butter the dish of your choice. Keep in mind that this recipe utilized two 5 inch creme brulee ramekins. Adjust your recipe to suit your baking dish of choice.
Layer the bottom of your dish with pulp and skins of muscadines.
in a medium bowl, combine oats, pumpkin seeds, almonds, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. mix well. (this can serve as your base for a granola recipe).
Add oil and cut in 5 tablespoons of butter till you have a sandy mixture with pea size chunks. You want the butter to be dispersed throughout.
Top the muscadines with the crisp and bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown on top and bubbly on bottom. Your kitchen will also smell like heaven.