We’re big fans of crisps, but that’s hardly exceptional—just about everyone loves these gooey, warm and comforting desserts. And for a good reason: fruit crisp is incredibly simple to make with a just a few pantry-staple ingredients, plus fruit. And you can be flexible with your fruit—grab what’s on the counter, in the fridge or even the freezer—and get baking!

The Framework:

There are two elements to making any fruit crisp: the streusel and the fruit filling. For the streusel, you need 3/4 cup each flour and oats, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of the spice of your choice and 1/2 cup cold butter to cut into the dry mixture. For the fruit filling, you need 6 cups fresh fruit, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 to 4 tablespoons flour, 1/2 teaspoon of the spice of your choice and 1 teaspoon lemon juice.

Here’s how to put it all together:

The Ingredients

To get started, gather ingredients from each of these categories:

• Dry ingredients: Flour, oats, brown sugar, sugar
• Spice (your choice): Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cardamom, allspice
• Fat: Cold butter
• Fresh fruit (your choice): Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, dark cherries, peaches, nectarines, plums, apples, pears
• Lemon juice

The Method

Two of our favorite crisp recipes are made using the guidelines above. If you prefer to work from a kitchen-tested recipe, try one (or both) of these first!