Classic Apple Crisp
Apple Crisp is one of the easiest dessert recipes but so yummy. They're a fruity treat with a crunchy, buttery oat topping! This is a great way to use up any leftover apples this time of year. Serve it with ice cream or whipped cream.
Ingredients
For the Crumble Topping
- 1 cup Rolled oats (Note 1)
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup unsalted butter cut into small pieces 1cm/1/2inch cubes. Cold. 115g (1 stick)
- 1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar (Note 2) Adjust to your taste. If you like really sweet, then use 3/4 cup instead of 1/2 cup.
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup Pecans or flaked almonds Optional
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon Adjust to your taste
For the Filling
- 8 apples, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped, 2½ lbs apples.
- 1 tbsp lemon juice (half of lemon juice)
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/3 cup brown sugar(Adjust to your taste) (Note 3)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp cornstarch or 2 tablespoon all purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat Oven to 345 degrees F (175 degrees C). Prepare a buttered 8x8 baking dish.
- In a large bowl, mix together sugar, cinnamon, corn starch. Peel and core the apples, then quarter and chop them into thin slices. Transfer sliced apples to the bowl and add lemon juice and vanilla. Toss all together and mix well. Add apple filling to the prepared baking dish.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the dry ingredients for the topping, all-purpose flour, salt, cinnamon, brown sugar.
- Dice the cold butter into small pieces and add to dry ingredients. Work the butter into the other ingredients with your hands or pastry cutter until it begins to warm up a little. The finished crisp should have a granular crumbly texture, but there shouldn't be too many big lumps of pure butter. Add oats and pecans and mix well. (You can also use a pastry cutter or fork to mix the ingredients until it looks like small peas and just begins to clump together).
- Spread the topping over the apple filling in an even layer and bake for 35 – 45 min, or until the crisp is golden brown and crispy on top, and the filling is cooked through, nice and bubbly on the edges!
- Let the crisp sit for a good 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
Note 1: Use Whole oats for crispier topping.
Note 2: You can adjust the sweetness. If you like sweeter, then use 3/4 cup brown sugar instead of 1/2 cup.
Note 3: If you like sweeter filling then add 1/2 cup instead of 1/3 cup.
Some people cook a crumble at a slightly higher temperature, which cooks the topping fast but leaves the filling semi-raw. We recommend a temperature of 350°F and a baking time of at least 35 minutes.
If you like really tender fruit in your crisp you can pre-cook fruit before baking. Place the apples in a skillet with the sugar and 1 tablespoon of water, and cook over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring periodically, to soften slightly, before transferring to a small ovenproof baking dish.
You can freeze crisp topping in the freezer. When you make crisp, double the recipe and then keep half in the freezer so that whenever you have fruits leftover you can have dessert in no time at all.
If you like the flavour of lemon zest you can add 1 tsp lemon zest.