Old fashioned apple crisp. Is there anything better? This reminds me of crisp autumn evenings, playing games at the table, and spending time as a family. Apple crisp is warm, sweet, and brings back a deluge of memories. My favorite kind of apple crisp is made with fresh apples and has a crumb topping, served warm, and topped with vanilla ice cream.
Living in California definitely has its perks. We currently live in the central valley and are within minutes of several different farms. A friend of mine has access to an apple orchard. The apples used in this recipe are pink lady apples. Fuji and Gala apples used to be my favorite until I tried these. They have a sweetness and crispness that is so refreshing. A close runner up are the honey crisp apples. We ordered a whole box of the pink lady apples and have been enjoying eating them fresh, baking them, and IF there are any left, I will make up and can some cinnamon applesauce like I did last year (no sugar, and sweet as nectar).
Apple crisp makes a delightful dessert any time of the year and is fairly simple to make. For the crumb topping, my favorite tool to use is a pastry cutter (also known as a dough blender). They are harder to find now a days, but I did see one at Target today. You can also order one online. This tool makes creating a crumb topping a breeze. (Don’t worry, you can also use a knife and fork, it just takes longer:)). I put the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, egg, and butter into a large metal bowl and then mix them together using the pastry cutter (or a knife and fork). Don’t mix TOO long, or it will congeal and turn into pie crust. The trick here is to make sure and mix it long enough to be a crumbly mixture and no more. Hand sprinkle the topping and bake (recipe to follow).
This Old Fashioned Apple Crisp recipe is sure to please!
- 6 apples, peeled, cored, and diced
- Sugar, as desired
- 1 c flour
- 1 c sugar
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ¾ tsp. salt
- 1 egg
- ⅓ c shortening or butter
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- In a greased 6"x10" baking dish, place the diced apples and sprinkle with desired amount of sugar.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the egg and shortening.
- Cut in with a knife and fork or pasty cutter until mixture is crumbly. (Don't over mix!)
- Sprinkle crumbly mixture over top apples.
- Sprinkle with cinnamon.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes or until apples and crust are done.
- Serve warm with vanilla ice cream, if desired!
The fruit crisp story continues… The freezer went out and rather than throwing away the partially frozen fruit in the freezer, Juventa made about 8 fruit crisps and distributed them to friends. We enjoyed eating boysenberry, apricot, peach and even plum cobbler today, a silver lining to the loss of our freezer.
The crumbly topping is so versatile and tasty, it can even be used on a dutch apple pie or on top of pretty much any fruit crisp or cobbler. A wonderful recipe!
Disclaimer – yes, I am Juventa’s husband
Having our freezer die was a crazy. Don’t worry, I took some photos of the boysenberry cobbler and peach cobbler that was made. I’ll post the recipe as soon as I can as it is slightly different than the Old Fashioned Apple Crisp recipe. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Juventa! I had a pastry cutter and never really knew what it was for! Now I have use for it and will make this recipe soon
Awesome! So glad it helped:)
I love family recipes like this one, we have a dish in the uk that is very similar called apple crumble and I love it! Will definitely have to give this a try! Love your photographs!
Thank you!
AMAAAZZZINNNGGGGGGG I love this recipe mom!!