Seasonal recipe: Apple crisp

This warm apple crisp is just what a brisk, active day calls for

Thu, Sep 24 2009 at 10:24 AM EST

photo: stu spivack/Flickr

Apple crisp

There are thousands of ways to use up plentiful apples, but it seems everyone’s favorite is to bake them into a sweet dessert. Apple pie certainly would do the trick, but that takes pie crust which takes time (or expensive pre-bought crusts).

You can get the same apple pie taste without the work of the crust by making an apple crisp. I found an apple crisp recipe on Allrecipes.com that my entire family loved. We ate it straight from the oven with Trader Joe’s vanilla ice cream (made from rBst-free milk). We were so eager to eat it that I didn’t even get a chance to take pictures. The photo above is a stock photo (sorry ‘bout that).

I used Pristine apples that I bought at the farmers market and organic quick cooking oats from the store’s bulk bins. The topping on this was really crisp out of the oven and even two days later when reheated retained some of its crispness.

Ingredients

10 cups all-purpose apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup water
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, melted

Time Estimates

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 45 min

Total time: 60 min

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degree C).
Place the sliced apples in a 9x13 inch pan. Mix the white sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and ground cinnamon together, and sprinkle over apples. Pour water evenly over all.
Combine the oats, 1 cup flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and melted butter together. Crumble evenly over the apple mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 45 minutes.

Yield

Makes about 8 servings

My notes:

Although I used mainly Pristine apples, I was a bit short of 10 cups so I threw in two Gala apples even though they usually wouldn’t be used as baking apples. My crisp ended up a bit soupy, probably because of the Galas, but it didn’t stop us from enjoying it one bit.
Many of the comments by people on Allrecipes who had made the recipe said that they doubled the topping ingredients because they like a thick topping to apple ratio. I thought the amount of topping was plenty, but apparently if you like extra topping, it doubles well.
Some people also said they added cranberries or craisins to the apples.

Next week, I’m going to start a month of soup seasonal recipes. If you have a fabulous soup recipe that uses what’s in season right now, let me know.