Fall for Apples: Try This Delicious Recipe for Apple Crisp

By Carol Frey

I love the fall. The weather begins to cool, the leaves turn and the days begin to shorten. Small towns around the South celebrate the season with craft fairs and pumpkin patches. 

One of the things that our family often did during the fall was make our way up to the Elijay area and pick some apples. We took a picnic and made a day of it. 

Our eyes were often bigger than our collective stomachs, so when we got back home I was faced with a mountain of apples. Hum. Should I request that each family member eat three apples a day through the end of the year, or perhaps do some cooking? A little eating and a little cooking seemed a good compromise. 

For cooking I always like tart crisp apples such as Rome Beauties, Granny Smith and Winesap. For eating there are many varieties to choose from such as Delicious, Jonogold and Arkansas Blacks, just to name a very few. 

One of my favorite dishes to make with my apples is Apple Cranberry Crisp. It uses two fruits that are harvested in the fall, apples and cranberries. It is warm, comforting and makes your kitchen smell delicious. I use this recipe off and on throughout the fall and winter months. Try it at your house; you’ll be glad you did. 

Apple Cranberry Crisp

Preheat oven to 350°

ingredients:

• 4 large crisp apples—Granny Smith or Rome are good choices, peeled and thinly sliced 
• 1 can whole cranberry sauce
• 1 cup rolled oats
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup brown sugar 
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ cup butter softened
• ½ cup chopped pecans

prep:

Place peeled and cut up apples into a greased or sprayed, 9x13” pan. I usually slice the apples right into the pan. Why dirty a bowl if you don’t need to?

Top apples with cranberry sauce. 

topping:

Combine oats, flour, sugar and cinnamon until mixed. 

Cut in butter and nuts. About the cutting business; this does not involve a knife. Take all of the topping ingredients and crumble, crumble, crumble them around with your hands until they’re, well, crumbly. 

Crumble (there’s that word again) topping over apple mixture in pan, spreading it as evenly as possible without stressing out about it. 

Bake at 350° for 35 minutes. 

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.  Yum. 

This will serve 8-10. If you need a larger quantity—make one! You may add several more apples and even another can of cranberry sauce in the same 9x13” pan with this same amount of topping. If you do add extra fruit, then also add a little more cinnamon and cook it for 45 minutes to 1 hour.