Classic Apple Crisp

This is a re-post from 2016; it IS after all a holiday weekend, and this little gem remains a classic for good reason.

Hey hey, Memorial Day!

Not just a celebration of the beginning of summer – or a time to book fun travel plans or hang out at a barbecue with family and friends (although I conscientiously object to none of the above)….Memorial Day is an important day in America; one that reminds us  –  to remember.

Supah-Quick history lesson:

Memorial Day was established on May 6, 1862 by General John A. Logan as a way to remember the soldiers that were killed during the Civil War. The date wasn’t chosen for any particular reason, he just sort of picked it out of a hat (okay I made that part up….about the hat).

Anyway in 1971 the Federal Government established the holiday to be on the last Monday of May as a way to grant employees a three-day weekend! Yes! Can you believe it? See…..the feds aren’t all bad.

Well, at least back in 1971 maybe they weren’t……but I digress.  In all seriousness this is a date to honor all of America’s fallen soldiers, in wars past and present, for the ultimate sacrifice.

So go thank a Veteran, why don’t you?

Maybe you can make ’em this apple crisp to celebrate. 

Not quite a cobbler, not at all a pie, just some plain and simple crunchy buttery goodness cloaked over a pile of cinnamon scented slightly sweetened Granny Smith apples, all baked up to bubbling perfection. YA-HUM!

This recipe comes from an old issue of Everyday Food magazine (back from October 2007) and I follow it religiously with one exception…….the amount of actual apples it requires. See I much prefer the crunchy bits; they are the best part of any fruity crisp, cobbler, crumble, bumble or whatever you got going. The smooshie fruit is just there to keep it from being called a granola, if you ask me. So this version is a whole lotta crisp….’notta whole lotta apples.

You can most certainly adjust it however YOU like it and I will include those options in the printable at the end.

Either way, let’s start with the best part.In a medium sized bowl, mix up some flour, sugars (brown and white), and salt. Get out a stick of unsalted butter, and as quickly as you can, chop this into little cubes. You want the butter to stay cold, and of course this is not easy to do, what with your hot little fingers all over the place, but stay the course and get it hacked up as best as you can. Super helpful tip I just recently figured out is to use a stick of frozen butter! 

Now “cut” or chop in the cold butter cubes into the flour mixture with either a big fork, or two knives, OR if you have one, a pastry blender. I found this one in a random kitchen drawer and I truly have no clue where it came from, so look around, you never know. 🤗

Keep stabbing away at this whatever means you have to do so, until it looks like a course crumble. Give it a little muscle, you can do it!

Add some old fashioned oats to this, and use your hands to squash and toss that around until you get nice lumps to form.

Kinda fun now, right? Now whack this into the fridge to chill it back up. Or chill it out (you have a long weekend ahead).

Oh, and apples to peel.

The original recipe calls for 3 pounds of apples….which after a little research I found equals out to be about 9 apples! If you are so inclined, or you have a ton of them around I say GO for it but I stuck with 4 large Granny Smith apples. I had a smaller Gala apple stuffed in the bottom of my fridge so I threw that in as well, ha! Obviously this is very forgiving on amounts, just be sure to use an apple that is good for baking (Braeburns and Empires are great as well).

I squeezed the juice from one fairly large lemon over the chunks as I went along to keep them from browning (yuck), and I ended up with just a little over 7 cups of cubed apples….

…and what looks like 12 cups of apple skins and lemon rinds and mess………ghah!!!!!!

Toss the lemony apples with some sugar and cinnamon, and dump this all into a shallow 2-quart baking dish. I gave the pan a quick spritz of cooking spray beforehand to fend off any serious baked on stick-age.

Now evenly top your apple cuties with that butter-luscious oatmeal crumbly goodness, and into the oven it goes for ONE.  FULL.  HOUR.

Go buy some ice cream in the mean time.

And there you have it! Does this look like a three day weekend or what?

Obviously amazing served warm from the oven (topped with some vanilla ice cream, please) you can serve this room temp, or even super cold after a chill down in the refrigerator, which is how I actually like it best. Easy, juicy, buttery, crunchy happiness, any way you dish it up. As American as mom and ………. apple crisp.  

RECIPE BELOW: This takes a little bit of effort only because you have a lot of peeling and cutting up of apples (a chore I am not particularly fond of) as well as the whole chopping up of butter and making the crumbly part. So, plan on about 45 minutes of labor……I mean, this makes a mess! Or maybe I’m just messy? Anyway, once you pop it into the oven the worst of it is the wait because this is just that good. Makes enough for 6-8 servings. Take it to that BBQ you were invited to. Don’t forget the ice cream.