The Best Apple Crisp

This Apple Crisp is a classic made perfect. This dessert is so easy, so easy in fact that it’s about to become your next go to. With all the deliciousness of apple pie but on your table in half the time, let’s welcome fall with open arms and satisfied bellies.

I can’t be the only one out there who starts dreaming of apple crisp as soon as those fall winds start blowing. If I was the only one this dessert never would have become a classic, one that’s so easy to whip together and fun to share with loved ones. Never tried crisp before?

Well allow me to introduce the two of you.

Now you’re familiar with apple pie no? Well apple crisp has all the flavor with half of the hassle. We’re still getting ooey gooey perfectly tender apples that have been cooked down to perfection, all topped with a sweet oast based topping that gets golden brown in the oven.

What Is Apple Crisp?

Now if you’re a reader from the UK or the Southern Hemisphere, the terms crisp and crumble are interchangeable – but here in North America they mean 2 different things. A crumble is chopped up apples topped with a streusel topping whereas crisp includes oats. Not a big difference – but now it’s up to you to taste test which you prefer!

Ingredients

Apple mixture

• Apples – Granny smith apples, always. I’ll include a section detailing why below.
• Flour –We need a little bit of all purpose to ensure our apple mixture becomes cohesive and dare I say – syrupy – as it bakes.
• Spices –Just a bit of cinnamon to carry through the flavor from our filling to our topping.
• Seasoning –Salt to bring out all the flavors..

Topping

• Oats – We want quick cooking oats today, steel cut or oats similar will take too long to cook and will result in a raw and chewy topping.
• Dry ingredients –All purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
• Wet ingredients –Brown sugar and butter.

What Kind Of Apples Are Best For Baking?

Granny smith is hands down the best baking apple. It is sturdy enough to prevent a gooey mess when pulled from the oven and it’s nice and tart which means that it holds up well to all the sugar we’re going to be adding to our dish. You can always use golden delicious instead but keep in mind that sugar levels may have to be adjusted.

How To Make Apple Crisp

1. Prep: Preheat oven to 375°F. Prepare a 8×8-inch square pan with baking spray or coat it with butter.
2. Combine the apple mixture: Place sliced apples in a bowl. Add brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt. Stir gently and make sure every piece of apple is covered in the sugar mixture. Set aside.
3. Prepare the topping: Combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon together. Add in the cubed butter and use your hands to combine. You want the butter to be pea-sized and coated entirely. You should have about 6 cups of mixture. 
4. Assemble: Spread half mixture over the bottom of your prepared pan and press flat. Pour the apple mixture over top and press down with rubber spatula. Pour remaining crisp mixture over top of the apples.
5. Bake: Bake uncovered in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Don’t Melt Your Butter

It’s a bit of a common mistake people make when whipping up a streusel or crisp that they need to melt their butter before incorporating it – but that couldn’t be further from the truth. We want to use cubed up butter here, lovingly massaged into our oat mixture.

Some Tips

• Make sure your apples are at room temperature before baking with them, so if you’re one of those types to keep their apples in the fridge be sure to remove them well ahead of time!
• Whether you want to keep the peel on or not is totally up to you. I like to remove it from my apples for both visual appeal and to assure that my texture is spot on.
• Be sure to cut your apples up thin enough to ensure they bake to tender perfection, we don’t want any hard or raw bits in our filling.

How To Serve

Well this dessert is more than perfect on it’s own, it has crunch, sweetness, and that ooey gooey filling. But a dollop fresh whipped cream, a melty scoop of vanilla ice cream, or a drizzle of caramel and you’ll find yourself in orbit.

Storing Leftovers

You want to make sure you pop this dish in the fridge once it’s cooled properly to enjoy for later, sadly the apples and the topping don’t last well at room temperature. Seal completely or store in an airtight container for up to 3 – 5 days.

Freezer

To freeze your apple crisp be sure your dessert has cooled completely before popping in the freezer in an airtight container and it will keep for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw overnight in the fridge before warming back up to serving temperature in the oven at 350 F degrees for 20 – 25 minutes.

More Must Try Recipes:

• Pumpkin Pancakes
• Banana Nut Muffins
• Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Apple Pie Taquitos
• Churro Apple Pie Cookies
• Salted Caramel Apple Pie Cheesecake Bars
• Classic Apple Pie
• Quick Apple Turnovers
• Apple Pie Cake