Why We Love This Easy Apple Crisp Recipe
It’s fall, and you know what that means… It is time for all things apple! This season, use your favorite orchard apples to make a simple and irresistible dessert recipe everyone loves – a warm, gooey, and perfectly spiced Apple Crisp. Fruit crisps are such a fantastic dessert, any time of year. (And bonus, they’re WAY easier to make than a traditional fruit pie!) They feature a rustic fruit flavor and sugar base with crispy oats on top, and are surprisingly great to customize depending on the seasonal produce and dietary needs. However you change the ingredients, the treat takes under an hour to bake and can be prepped well ahead of time (or even frozen). Feel free to use any type of apples you like in the easy recipe, but you almost certainly want to serve the warm and cozy dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
Ingredients You Need
For the Crisp Topping –
Old-fashioned oats – or quick-cooking oats All-purpose flour – or whole wheat flour Light brown sugar – packed Butter – unsalted, cut into cubes Salt – a bit to balance the sweet ingredients
For the Apple Filling –
Firm apples – see notes below Light brown sugar – firmly packed All-purpose flour – or whole wheat flour Apple pie spice – usually a combination of cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger Salt – just a pinch
Best Apples for Baking –
If you have lots of apple varieties available to you, the most important thing to remember when making desserts with apples is to pick a variety that holds its shape when baked. Some apples turn entirely to mush if they are fully cooked. Others will hold their shape a little bit better. Select firm tart apples such as Braeburn, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Cortland, Johnna Gold, and Matsu for baked apple desserts.
How to Make Apple Crisp with Oats
First, make the oat topping. Combine the topping ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Use a pastry blending tool or your hands to mix the butter into the dry ingredients until the butter is in small pea-sized pieces and the mixture looks like dried oatmeal. Set aside. Pro Tip: If working in stages throughout the day, cover and chill the crumpled topping until ready to use. Next, make the apple filling. Quickly peel and slice the apples into ½-inch wedges. Place the apples in the baking dish and sprinkle the brown sugar, flour, apple pie spice, and salt over the top. Toss to coat and spread the apples out and an even layer. Pro Tip: Some recipes call for adding lemon juice to the apples so they don’t brown. However, lemon juice will break the apples down more as they bake, and this can sometimes cause the apples to turn to mush. If you work fast, you will not need lemon juice. Sprinkle the oat crisp topping over the apples in an even layer. You want the topping to cover the apples completely, but do not press the mixture down too much onto the filling!
Get the Complete (Printable) Easy Apple Crisp Recipe + Video Below. Enjoy!
Place the apple crisp in the center of the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes, until the top is golden-brown and the edges are bubbly. Pro Tip: To keep any of the filling from spilling over into the bottom of the oven, I suggest placing a rimmed and/or lined baking sheet on the rack directly below the crisp.
Recipe Variations
Fruit – Use this easy apple crisp recipe as the base for making all kinds of fruit crisps! Swap apples with other hearty fruits like strawberries, blueberries, peaches, or pitted cherries. Gluten-free – Make sure the oats are GF, and use your preferred gluten-free replacement for standard all-purpose flour. Dairy-free – Use vegan plant-based butter that is easy to cube and crumble. And you definitely want to add a scoop of our dairy-free vanilla ice cream on top of the baked crisp, too! Make ahead – Assemble the crisp in a disposable aluminum pan, but do not bake. Instead, wrap the pan in plastic wrap and aluminum foil, and either refrigerate overnight or freeze for several months. Then you can give them away as yummy gifts, or have one ready to pop in the oven at your leisure. Sauce it – Add caramel sauce, vanilla sauce, or cinnamon sauce over the crumbly topping!
Serving Suggestions
Let the crisp cool slightly in the pan before serving. Spoon into bowls, and top the warm apple crisp with BIG scoops of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream! I usually enjoy my crisp as an evening dessert with milk, or as an afternoon treat with coffee. When you’ve got a fruit crisp this good, any time is the right time to take a sweet snack break!
Looking for More Fall Dessert Recipes? Be Sure to Also Try:
Slow Cooker Cinnamon Apples Sweet Potato Pound Cake Caramel Apple Dump Cake Mini Apple Pies Apple Brown Betty
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