I recently went apple picking for the first time! It was a fun experience that I recommend if you have the time and the transportation to get to a farm in your area. Now that I have the apples, what do I do with them? One of the first recipes I thought about was an apple tart or pie. Thinking about what I have on hand I thought Apple Crisp! It's been a while and this delicious treats with cinnamon, nutmeg, and a hint of orange were a great treat.
Apples:
You can pick a number of different apples for your apple crisp. Some good varieties are Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, or Braeburn. Your apples should be room temperature.
Tools:
It's a good idea to add some key tools to your culinary collection when working with apples. My father would use a paring knife to peel his apples when he made apple pie (which was always delicious) but my paring knife skills have never been awesome at not cutting off half the apple with the peel. These peelers are good option but the brand doesn't matter as long as you have one.
I use an apple slicer to speed up the chopping and slicing process. If you're an apple lover it's something nice to have on hand whether you're baking apple crisp and pies or not.
Pastry cutters are a great tool to have in the kitchen when you're serious about your baking. I use my pastry cutter frequently when I make the graham crackers for the S'mores Bars that are available in the shop. This pastry cutter is used for the crumb topping on the apple crisp.
Recipe:
Filling:
6 golden delicious apples, peeled and chopped or sliced (other varieties of apples can be used, like Braeburn or my recent discovery Grimes)
2 tablespoon granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon orange juice
Topping:
1 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cold vegan butter, diced into cubes
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of kosher salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8x8 baking dish, or spray with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
For the apples: In a mixing bowl, add chopped apples, granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and orange juice. Stir to combine, then transfer to prepared baking dish.
For the topping: In a separate mixing bowl, add brown sugar, oats, flour, cinnamon, salt, and diced cold butter. Using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the oat mixture. Use a slight downward twisting motion, until mixture resembled pea-sized crumbs. If you don't have a pastry cutter you can also use two forks to cut the butter into the mixture.
Spread topping over apples in baking dish, and gently pat to even it out. Bake 40-50 minutes, until golden brown and bubbly.
Serve warm and enjoy!
