Want to know what tastes as good as pie but is (way) harder to mess up? Crisp, or crumble if that’s what you’re more familiar with. It also makes your house smell incredible. It’s prep-ahead, bake-ahead, a general crowd pleaser and pretty much as seasonal as you can get. It’s easy to make a healthy version (but this isn’t it).Â
Honestly though I am interested in making a gluten-free version with more oats, more nuts, and less sugar, but that one will be my “for the family” crisp. This is my company crisp. It is sweet, spicy (like cinnamon spicy, not pepper spicy), and has the perfect consistency. By tossing the apples with a bit of flour it’s not water-y in the least – it holds together nicely meaning you could serve it on a plate instead of in a bowl. You can make this to the point of baking and refrigerate it until the timing is right (up to 24 hours). What I did was baked it in the afternoon and left it, still warm, covered with foil on the top of my stove. After I took dinner out of the oven and it was still nice and hot, I put dessert in to warm up (while we ate). When we were ready I took it out and made my whipped cream – perfectly warm and toasty.
Big shout out to my tasters, Mr. Milt Matthews and Mr. Peter DiLullo. Two men with impeccable taste, high standards, and the capacity for (maybe even the propensity towards) ball busting. Four thumbs up from them mean it was “blog-able”. Excited to make this again soon now that my apple guy at the Grower’s Market is hauling in a gorgeous bounty.
Apple Crisp
Serves 6
2 1/2 lb. macintosh apples, peeled, cored and diced
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 tbsp. all purpose flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
Topping
3/4 c. all purpose flour
1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. light brown sugar
heaping 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 c. old fashioned oats
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
Whipped Cream
1 c. chilled heavy cream
1/2 c. lowfat plain Greek yogurt
2 tbsp. sugar
Splash vanilla
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8×8 inch baking dish with nonstick spray.
2. Toss apples in dish with lemon juice, flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.
3. Combine topping ingredients and cut in butter by hand or beat with paddle attachment in stand mixer until evenly cut in.
4. Sprinkle topping ingredients onto apples. Place baking dish on a sheet pan to catch drips. Bake for 1 hour. Let cool at least ten minutes before serving.
5. To make whipped cream, combine heavy cream, yogurt, sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Beat with whisk attachment on mixer until it forms soft peaks. Serve with crisp.
