We’re so used to making crisps that when a new recipe lands in our inbox, the first thing we do is head for the kitchen — which is exactly what we did when the Cranberry Crumble showed up. Then we took another look and a couple of red flags caught our eye. Instead of the crisps we’re used to, with lots of fruit and crumbly brown sugar toppings, this one had a layer of vanilla buttermilk cake in the middle. What really made us hesitate was the directions for making the cake. There was no mention of stir, beat or whisk. Instead the whole shebang went into the processor, and the blade did all the work.

Then we took a closer look at the fruit, and the apricots stopped us in our tracks. We’ve never hesitated to add golden raisins or snippets of dried figs to crisps but have been skittish about apricots. They’ve got an “edge” that we’ve always thought would get in the way of the fruit.

Because we’ve been surprised by recipes that sounded iffy and turned out great, we went ahead with the crumble — apricots and all. We took it to a holiday potluck and were so impressed by how good it tasted, we decided to make it again last summer. Cranberries were out of season so we substituted blueberries and peaches, and it worked like a charm. Lesson learned? You can’t always judge a recipe by how it looks when it’s sitting in your inbox.

Cranberry Crumble

This cake does double duty as breakfast and as dessert. Have on hand for unexpected holiday guests.

Filling

1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped

1/2 cup boiling water

1 (12-ounce) bag fresh cranberries

1 firm, ripe pear, cored and sliced

1 Granny Smith apple, cored and sliced

1/4 cup sugar

Cake

• Cooking spray

11/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2/3 cup buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Streusel

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons old-fashioned oats

1 tablespoon water

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 13-by-9-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

To prepare filling, combine dried apricots and water in a small bowl; let stand 30 minutes. Combine remaining filling ingredients in a large bowl. Add apricots and soaking liquid; mix well. Spoon into prepared pan.

To prepare cake, combine flour, sugar, butter and salt in a food processor. Pulse until crumbly. Set aside 1 cup for streusel topping.

Add egg to flour mixture in food processor. Dissolve baking soda in buttermilk, stir well, and add to flour mixture. Add vanilla. Pulse to make a cake batter. Pour over cranberry mixture in pan.

To prepare streusel, add streusel ingredients to reserved flour mixture. Toss well. Sprinkle over cake batter and bake 40 to 45 minutes, until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Serves 12.

Source: Recipe by Crescent

Dragonwagon.

Per serving: 330 calories, 14g fat, 4g protein, 51g carbohydrates, 4g fiber, 200mg sodium.

Look for Relish magazine, celebrating America’s love of food, each month in the Gazette-Times. For more Relish recipes, see www.relishmag.com.