There are desserts that require pastry bags, water baths, candy thermometers and an understanding of French vocabulary.
Then there's apple crisp.
Apple crisp understands that sometimes you want homemade dessert without having to qualify for a trade certificate first.
⏱️ Recipe Information
Servings: 6
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Baking Time: 35–40 minutes
Cooling Time: 10 minutes (recommended)
Total Time: 60–65 minutes
The baking time allows the apples to become tender and bubbly while the buttery oat crumble turns golden brown. A short cooling period helps the filling thicken before serving.
The recipe should provide 6 respectable dessert portions, especially when accompanied by a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Ingredients
For the apples
- 5–6 medium apples, peeled, cored and sliced
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1 tsp vanilla
For the crisp topping
- ¾ cup rolled oats
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- ½ cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
Preparation
Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Lightly butter an 8-inch square baking dish or something approximately that size. World HQ does not require an engineering survey.
Put the sliced apples into the baking dish. Add the brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour and vanilla and toss everything together until the apples are evenly coated.
In another bowl, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt.
Add the cold butter and work it into the mixture with your fingers, a pastry cutter or a fork until you have coarse, crumbly pieces.
Scatter the topping evenly over the apples.
Baking
Bake uncovered for 35–45 minutes, until the apples are tender and bubbling around the edges and the topping is golden brown.
Let it sit for at least 10 minutes before serving.
This waiting period exists primarily because molten apple filling has historically demonstrated little respect for the roof of the human mouth.
🌙 Moonboot Modification: Improve an Already Questionable Situation
Add ½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts to the topping.
Or add a handful of raisins or dried cranberries to the apples.
For a slightly different flavour, replace two of the apples with pears.
And if vanilla ice cream happens to be present, put a scoop on the warm crisp.
This isn't really a modification.
It's more of a strong recommendation from management.
🥣 Breakfast Loophole
Should some apple crisp survive until morning—and World HQ makes no guarantees—it contains apples and oatmeal.
Captain Moonboot therefore submits that it meets at least two commonly recognized breakfast criteria.
Add a spoonful of plain or vanilla yogurt and the defence becomes considerably stronger.
Whether Margaret accepts this interpretation is outside the jurisdiction of this cookbook.
From the Captain's Log
The great thing about apple crisp is that it looks and smells as though you've accomplished something impressive while requiring remarkably little actual competence.
Guests walk into the kitchen and smell baked apples and cinnamon.
They think:
“Somebody has been baking.”
Captain Moonboot knows the truth.
We threw fruit in a dish and buried it under butter, sugar and oatmeal.
Never correct a favourable misunderstanding. 😁🍎
🚨 WORLD HQ FILING NOTICE: Recipe #8 gives Making Salsa: Recipes & Other Bad Decisions from Captain Moonboot its first proper dessert entry. The Department of Culinary Research considers this essential diversification.