One day I had a chopped-up pineapple in the fridge. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the most flavorful and juicy. I decided to look for a recipe that might use it up. I found a very simple recipe for “Pineapple Crisp”—maybe just a little bit too simple. I thought the topping should probably have a little bit of spices, so I added some. The first time I made it, it was fairly good. But the next time I made it I added more spice to the topping and one spice to the pineapple base. Then I really liked it.

I have topped this “Pineapple Crisp” dessert with vanilla ice cream, and I’ve topped it with whipped cream. It’s good either way, but I think I liked the whipped cream the best. I decided it could be an attractive Valentine’s Day dessert if you added a nice big red maraschino cherry on top.

You will most likely have to dish up the dessert for each serving in two separate parts, unless you have the perfect serving tool and you’re more coordinated than I am. If you are serving it just to top off a big lunch or dinner, you might stretch it to nine servings. But if you’re serving it as a stand-alone dessert, you will probably want to make it into six servings to make the servings a little more generous. You could chop up the pineapple ahead of time, to save time when you are ready to make the dessert.

When you select a pineapple, it should have some yellowish areas to show that it’s ripe. I recently read that setting a pineapple out to ripen doesn’t work, so you need to be careful to select one that is sufficiently ripe. That won’t be quite as important if you are using it as a dessert, rather than serving it fresh. Cutting up a pineapple isn’t really difficult, once you have done it a couple of times. I usually rinse it off and pat it dry with a paper towel before I cut one up. Cutting through fruit with bacteria on the outside can carry the bacteria to the inside. Here’s the way I found easiest to cut up a pineapple:

(1) Turn the pineapple on its side on a cutting board. Slice off the top and bottom.

(2) Place the pineapple upright. Slice off the skin on four sides. Try to slice it following the curve, so as not to waste too much of the flesh, yet cutting deeply enough so that you don’t have a bunch of “eyes” left on the flesh you are going to be using.

(3) Slice off the skin on the corners between the four sides, using the advice in Step #2.

(4) After the skin is all cut off, cut off two opposite sides of the flesh, just outside the core.

(5) Cut off the other two narrower sides that are left, leaving only the core. The core is quite tough, but some people eat the core for the fiber and nutrition.

(6) Slice and chop the pineapple as desired.

Recipe here