What a perfect way to use up any leftover fruit salad you might have! I had a fun time improvising through the recipe. I learned from Friends & Family baker-owner Roxana Jullapat that I could customize my flour mixture by using three parts all purpose flour to one part alternative flour. I also added oatmeal and nuts to mine.
Make sure to taste often, adapt to your fruit and experiment with your favorite flours, sweeteners and acidifiers. Your filling should taste like a supercharged version of its fruit — some perfect combination of sweet and tart — so make sure your additions are highlighting and heightening, not overpowering. Your main adjustment knobs here are sweetness (for which you can add sugars, cane syrups, agave, molasses, etc.), acidity (citrus is good in the winter and tart fruits work great, as does sour cream) and salt. I like my topping to be buttery, lightly sweet (use your favorite sugars here) and just salty enough that each bite makes me want to keep eating more.
Also, I used the rest of my leftover fruit salad liquid to make an easy spritz: three parts sparkling white wine, two parts fruit juice and one part soda water. It was awesome.
Note: if you put melon or tropical fruit in your fruit salad, you might want to pick those out before baking.
