Ever since I was a child, I have enjoyed homemade apple crisp.  Growing up in New England, I was fortunate to enjoy the fall with freshly picked apples and usually batches of hot from the oven apple crisp.  Although my mom wasn’t necessarily an avid baker, she did enjoy making apple crisp for my brothers and me.  Once I was old enough to start baking, I began making batches every fall.

As an adult, I tried to teach my children about the tastiness of apple crisp, among other fruit desserts.  However, they are major choco-holics.  If a dessert didn’t have chocolate, it was worthy of a raised eyebrow.  That was until recently.  My children have begun to expand their palates to new sweet treats, such as cheesecake, carrot cake, and, yes, apple crisp.

We just celebrated my oldest child’s 14th birthday at the end of last month.  As is typical, the birthday person gets to choose the dinner and dessert menu for his or her special day.  Being an avid fan of shellfish, my son’s obvious dinner choice was lobster.  Dessert was a harder decision.  He toyed with the following desserts and came to the noted conclusions:

• cheesecake- Not a good idea because that was the birthday dessert chosen by one of his sisters- ick!
• carrot cake– Mom likes that, so sometimes she’ll make it just because.
• apple crisp- The winner!

I would have liked any of the three ideas that he pondered but was very excited for the apple crisp.  For a boy who used to turn up his nose at the thought of even sampling it, choosing it as his birthday dessert was quite a change.  Served with optional toppings of vanilla bean ice cream, caramel sauce, and whipped cream, it was a hit for the birthday boy and his family members.

Family Favorite Apple Crisp

Michele Pesula Kuegler

A classic fall dessert recipe

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

  

• 5 baking apples
• 3/4 cup old fashioned oats
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 3/8 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter chilled
• vanilla ice cream optional
• caramel sauce optional
• whipped cream optional

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Peel and core apples; cut into bite-sized cubes.
• Grease the sides and bottom of an 8"x8" pan and a 1-cup ramekin.*
• Place a small amount apples in the ramekin and the remainder in the pan.
• In a medium-sized bowl, combine oats, sugar, flour, and cinnamon.
• Cut butter into smaller pieces, and add to dry ingredients.
• Mix with a pastry blender, two forks, or your fingers until butter pieces are the size of peas.
• Sprinkle topping over the two dishes.
• Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until the apples are tender.
• Allow to cool for just a few minutes, then serve warm with desired toppings.

Notes

*To make this birthday dessert extra special, the birthday boy had his own dish of apple crisp.

Keyword apple crisp