Fall in Love with Apple Crisp

Fall is in full swing around here. We have had a few rainy days, the leaves are starting to change colors and the cool weather is descending upon us.  In fall, one of my favorite things to make is my mom's apple crisp!

I have great memories of watching her make a warm soup or spaghetti to go along with the apple crisp.  This is probably one of my favorite desserts next to a dark chocolate mousse! The best part is the apples do not need to be sweetened up with any sugar.  Between the naturally sweet apple pieces and sweet crunchy topping, you won't miss the extra sugar!



To make the apple crisp, you can go to the store to buy the ingredients, but if you live near an orchard, I highly suggest going to pick your own.  This is the second year wear have been able to pick our own apples at a local orchard and we always come back with at least 1/2 bushel of apples.  The picture below 1/4 of a bushel because the other 1/4 went home with a friend of mine who came to visit Boston.  I want to say it was around 35 apples.

To make the apple crisp you need the following ingredients

Ingredients: 

- 4-5 large apples

- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

- 1 cup brown sugar

- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

- 1 cup old-fashioned oats

- pinch of salt and cinnamon

- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Recipe: 

1) Start by combining the flour and oats. 

2) Next, mix in the cinnamon and salt with the flour mixture.

3) In a separate bowl mix the brown sugar, butter and vanilla until well blended. Add the flour mixture to the brown sugar mixture.  The topping should be crumbly.

4) Peel and quarter the apples. Cut the quarters into even thinner pieces if you want slices instead of quarters of apples.  Place the apples in an 8x8 baking pan.  

5) Finally, add the topping to the sliced apples and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  The apples should just be starting to get soft, but not mushy.  The crumble topping should also be getting crispy.  Hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I do this time of the year!  

Other suggestions for apples: another delicious use for the apples is to make apple sauce. This year we made apple sauce with pork chops & blue berries.  The apple sauce is very, very easy.  You peel and quarter all the apples. Throw in a large dutch oven with 1-2 tablespoons of water and a nice pinch of cinnamon. Do not add sugar because the apples are already sweet enough.  Cover and let cook for 20-30 mins. Once the apples are soft, just use a hand blender to blend it all.