Apple Crisp over Apple Pie? This recipe may just convince you

By: Betsy Stenard

Staff Writer

Let’s be real: apple pie? Delicious. Making an apple pie? A whole lot of work. 

The preparation alone can take hours long, all because pie crust is infamously finicky and hard to work with.

So why make life so difficult? Make an apple crisp instead. Something anyone could bring to a Thanksgiving celebration and have it be received just as well as any apple pie.

Apple crisp has the filling of apple pie, but is instead baked in a dish with a cookie-like, oat topping. 

This dish looks and tastes impressive and is surprisingly easy to make. It also takes a fraction of the time to prepare compared to a homemade pie.

Even better, if you want to make it gluten free, go for it. Just substitute the flour with any 1-to-1 gluten free flour mix. 

Vegan? Just substitute the melted butter with vegan butter or coconut oil. Add some nuts, go wild. This apple crisp is yours now so make it how you want it!

Apple Crisp Ingredients:

For apple filling:

8 large apples, peeled and sliced (see note)

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

¼ cup of white sugar

Dash of lemon juice

2 tablespoons of cornstarch

¼ teaspoon of salt

For topping:

⅔ cup of brown sugar

½ cup of all-purpose flour (or sub GF option)

1 cup of old-fashioned oats

½ cup of almond flour (aka: almond meal)

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

¼ teaspoon of nutmeg

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup of melted butter (or sub vegan option)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, sprinkle apples with cinnamon and sugar. Let them sit while preparing the rest of the dish.
2. Preheat oven to 375° F and lightly grease a 10×12 baking dish or a deep pie plate.
3. Prepare topping: mix all dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. Mix in melted butter until it becomes the texture of wet sand and is evenly combined.
4. Add the lemon juice, cornstarch and salt to the sliced apples and mix together until evenly coated throughout. Dump apples and any juice into the prepared baking dish.
5. Sprinkle and piece together the topping over the apples until evenly distributed and the apples are almost entirely covered by the topping.
6. Bake for 45 minutes or until apples are bubbling at the top and all the topping has crisped up and turned golden brown. 
7. Allow to cool for 20-30 minutes, serve warm or cold (preferably with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream). Enjoy!

Notes:

Generally, any type of apple can be used here. If using a firm apple (ex. honey crisp, granny smith) then slice the apples thinly. If using a softer apple (ex. McIntosh) it will break down faster and easier into more of an applesauce consistency, so slice them thicker.

If desired, add chopped walnuts or pecans to the topping when combing dry ingredients.