Apple Crisp

Ina Garten is one of my favorite cooks of all time. She makes food look uncomplicated, but irresistible. A couple of years ago, I watched the Barefoot Contessa on the Foodnetwork and she made what has become one of my favorite desserts. Apple Crisp. This dessert screams Fall and is the perfect comfort food at the end of any meal.

Start with thoroughly washing about 5 lbs. of apples. Ina recommends McIntosh or Macoun Apples. I have used all sorts of different kinds and still get great results. I wouldn’t, however, recommend using Red Delicious Apples as they are a bit mealy in texture and the final result would probably be a pile of mushy apples. Not good. I’m using Fuji apples pictured here because that’s what I had on hand. My favorite apple to use, though, is a nice, crisp Granny Apple. It gives the crisp that whole tangy, sweet and salty vibe. I’m starting to drool…

Peel and chop up the apples like so. I prefer to chop my apples because I like the mouth feel I get. You could absolutely use an apple peeler/corer like here if you have one on hand, though. Whatever floats your boat!

Add the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and orange juice to the apples and toss…

Like so. Wish you had smell-o-vision, don’tcha?! Well, I guess in this case it would be smell-0-blog? Hmmm…

Oops! I missed a bit of skin on an apple. Don’t worry about it if it happens to you. In fact, if you don’t mind skin on your apples when you bake, leave them on. You’ll get some extra vitamins in you, but oddly enough when I eat dessert, I’m not looking for vitamins…

Toss your sugar-y, cinnamon-y, lip-smacking-good nutmeg-y apples in a 9 x 13 inch dish now and set aside because we’re moving on to the best part of this dessert…the topping!

In a mixing bowl, add your oatmeal, sugars, flour and Kosher salt.

Bust out your 2 sticks of just-pulled-from the fridge chilled unsalted butter. That’s right folks, we’re adding 2 whole sticks to the topping!! Craziness, I know, but this is what’s going to give you the most butter-y, delictable topping ever! I think Paula Deen would approve of this recipe, yes?

Dump the buttah into your mixing bowl and talk amongst yourselves while it mixes for a few minutes until you achieve this…

Pea sized bits of goodness to top your apples.

See all that flour around my mixer? Yeah, that’s the flour that’s going to fly out once you turn on your mixer. You can smart, unlike me, and put a cover on before starting the mixer or live dangerously like I did and just accept that being messy is all part of the baking process. That’s how I roll…

Dump your topping on top of your apples and spread out until you get an even layer, making sure that no apple is left untouched before putting it in the oven.

Ever bit of apple deserves a chunk of topping. The world would come to an end if it didn’t.

And that’s all there is to it, my friends. Simple. Delicious. Goodness. Happy Fall Ya’ll!

Recipe: Apple Crisp

as adapted by Ina Garten

Ingredients:

5 pounds apples, Granny Smith preferred, but any will do

2 TBLS orange juice, fresh squeezed or from concentrate

1/2 C granulated sugar

2 TSP cinnamon

1 TSP nutmeg

For the topping:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 C granulated sugar

3/4 C light brown sugar, packed

1/2 TSP kosher salt

1 C oatmeal, not instant

1/2 lb. cold unsalted butter, diced

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 13 inch dish.

Peel, core, and cut the apples into large wedges. Combine the apples, orange juice, sugar and spices in a bowl. Put in dish and set aside.

For the topping, combine the flour, sugars, oatmeal and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with your paddle attachment. If you don’t have an electric mixer, you can always use your hand-held mixer. It works just as well.

Mix on low speed until the mixture because crumbly and the butter is the size of a pea. Scatter all over the apples.

Place the crisp on a sheet pan just in case the apple juices bubble over. Bake for 1 hour until the top is brown and the apples are bubbly. Serve immediately as is or with a scoop of ice cream on top. Enjoy!