A friend of mine requested a strawberry-rhubarb pie for her dinner party. Since I haven’t yet perfected my homemade pie dough skills, I opted out for this crisp (aka crumb) recipe, which turned out to be oh-so-satisfactory. The crunchy topping, the gooey sweet and tart filling, but what really made it… was that exotic cardamom kick. Mmmmm!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisps with Cardamom and Nutmeg

Borrowed from www.epicurious.com

PREP TIME: 45 min
COOKING TIME: 45 min
YIELD: 6 servings

INGREDIENTS:

• Topping
  1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Generous pinch of salt
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

• Filling
  5 cups 1/2-inch-thick slices fresh rhubarb (from about 2 pounds)
• 2 cups halved strawberries
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange peel
• 1/2 teaspoon (scant) ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Sweetened whipped cream {or a small scoop of vanilla ice cream}

DIRECTIONS:
For topping: Mix first 6 ingredients in medium bowl. Add butter; rub in with fingertips until moist clumps form.

For filling: Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter six 1 1/4-cup custard cups. Combine all ingredients except whipped cream in large bowl; stir to blend. Let stand until juices form, about 15 minutes.

Divide rhubarb mixture among prepared custard cups. Sprinkle topping evenly over mixture in each. Bake until topping is golden brown and crisp and filling is bubbling thickly around edges, about 45 minutes. Serve warm with sweetened whipped cream.