Apple Crisp

It is apple season here in Maryland, and everywhere I look there are little roadside produce markets brimming with sweet apples.  Naturally, I was looking for a good use for this bounty, so when my friend Kristi Dickens sent me a recipe for apple crisp, I had to try it.

Ingredients:

Filling:
5-6 apples, peeled and sliced (think tart apples like Jonathan, Granny Smith, or Jonagold)
     ***  Don't peel these until the recipe needs them or they will turn brown
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla

Topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup cold butter
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional -- I left them out because I didn't have any in the pantry)

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  While it is warming up, prepare your topping.  Just combine everything in a bowl except the butter and stir it up.

Then cut in the butter.  If you have a pastry knife like I do, this isn't too hard, but you can also use two forks.  It would be a great arm workout.  To cut in something, just drop in the whole stick (remember to be sure that it is cold or it won't cut) and chop at it with the blade until you have tiny pieces of intact butter interspersed among the dry ingredients.  You should be able to press it into tiny balls with your fingertips but shouldn't see huge chunks of butter.  I have tried a few pastry knifes in my life and prefer the one by OXO.  Most of them have flimsy tines and bend but this one is super sturdy.

So now your topping is ready and we can move on to the filling.  Keep waiting on those apples.  Last minute, remember.  In a bowl, combine the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and vanilla.  The vanilla is not friends with the cornstarch and won't blend in nicely, but will make little vanilla balls.  This is okay.  Vanilla can be as unsociable as it wants to be.  It will all work out in the end.

Okay, now you can peel the apples.  Go nuts.  Peel like crazy.  Of course, if you are me, here is where you realize that you used all but 5 of your apples up last week and forgot to buy more.  My apple crisp thus ended up with a mix of apples.  I know that 3 were Granny Smith and 1 was a Fuji, but I there was one "mystery apple" from the crisper drawer that got thrown in, too.  And you know what?  It worked.

Once your apples are peeled and cut into cute little slices, mix in the filling ingredients.  The sugar in this filling will pull some moisture out of the apples and make a yummy sauce while it bakes.

Spray a 9x9" pan with Pam and dump in your sugared apples.  Sprinkle your topping on top, as light or as heavy as you like.  I didn't end up using all of my filling, but you do whatever makes you happy.

Now just slide it into your warm oven and bake it for 45 minutes.  This is going to make your house smell amazing as it cooks and will be a wonderful treat on those "crisp" fall nights.  (Sorry, couldn't resist).

This was a fast, warm, and delicious dessert to make on a cold night, but would also be great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  It kept several days for us in the fridge and was a crowd favorite here.  I will definitely make it again -- as soon as I go to the store and buy more apples.