In the spirit of “mo’ money Movember,” I am trying to make sure we make good use of everything we have in our pantry before buying any new ingredients. So when I found two sad, bruised, tired-looking apples that I bought before we left for our big trip, I decided to do the impossible: bake.
Most people don’t need a recipe to make an apple (or any kind of fruit) crisp. And yet, since baking generally takes a lot more precision, I decided to turn to food guru Mark Bittman for his thoughts on the best apple crisp. Spoiler: somehow I managed not to follow the recipe.
Apple Crisp
- 6 cups apples, peeled, cored and sliced (my two sad apples yielded about 3-4 cups, and I didn’t bother peeling them)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 5 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into bits
- 1/2 cup oats
- 1/2 cup flour
- dash salt
- optional: shredded coconut, nuts
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the fruit with half the cinnamon, the lemon juice and 1 tablespoon brown sugar and spread the mixture in a 9-inch pan (I went with an 8-in round; I think that was slightly too small, and definitely too small if you have more than two apples.)
- Combine all the other ingredients (including the rest of the cinnamon and the sugar) in a food processor and pulse until the butter is incorporated (but not soft, just nice and mixed around).
- Spread the topping over the apples and bake 30-40 minutes, until the topping is browned.
- Serve with ice cream!
The Verdict:
Welp, another baking not-quite-hit. It started with my lack of apples, I think, compounded by my refusal to peel them. Accordingly, I should have used more oatmeal, maybe a bit more flour, and less sugar…and then we may have had more of a crisp than a mush situation. However, neither of us are complaining: it was still delish! We’ll be trying this one again, with a few modifications. Maybe next time with pears?
DINNER CHEZ NOUS 