Fall

Not-Too-Sweet Apple Crisp

October  6, 2010
4.5
4 Ratings
  • Serves 4 to 6
Author Notes

This is my salute to the start of autumn: a warm, comforting crisp made with just-sweet-enough apples, and hearty whole-wheat flour, oats, and brown sugar. —TheThinChef

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Ingredients
  • 4 small Gala apples
  • Juice of 1/4 lemon
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, depending on the sweetness of your apples
  • 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup sliced almonds
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 5 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 350º.
  2. Peel apples; slice the “cheeks” off of the cores, and discard cores. Slice apples into 1/4-inch slices, place in an 8×6-inch (or similar) baking dish, and toss with lemon juice and maple syrup. Taste a slice, and see if it tastes sweet enough; if not, add a bit more maple syrup. Set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, almonds, and cinnamon. Using your fingers, work in the butter until the mixture resembles wet sand, and it sticks together in clumps. Taste, and add more sugar if you think it should be sweeter.
  4. Pour topping over apples in the baking dish. Bake for 22 minutes, or until topping is golden brown and apples are just tender. Cool for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with vanilla ice cream for extra oohs and aahs.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

7 Reviews

hookmountaingrowers November 26, 2020
Great dessert but it required 45 minutes of cooking and covered it the last 15 minutes to help. Would do this again for sure!
Twila S. October 25, 2020
Used a little coconut flour along with a little all purpose flour and put some vanilla extract in apples to give it a little tropical zing...served with vanilla bean ice cream 🍨 Kids and I still loved it!!!
Megan T. November 4, 2014
Do you think Barley Flour would work in place of Whole Wheat Flour?
Megan T. November 12, 2014
I ended up using 1/4 heaping cup barley flour and 1/4 cup regular flour and it turned out wonderfully. I had a random hodge-podge of apples in the fridge (red delicious and the like) and the assortment was great. I had to cook it closer to 30ish minutes in order for the apples to soften. I loved how it was just sweet enough without being the perilously "goopy" texture of overly sugared recipes out there. Thanks for sharing!
Lisa January 19, 2014
I am just making this recipe right now, I definitely had to cook it for twice as much time & cover it with foil halfway through as the apples did not seem to be getting soft enough or cooking enough to get any liquid at all around the dish.
Meagen October 16, 2013
Just made this for dessert tonight and it was phenomenal. Thank you for publishing this. This was so easy to make and tasted wonderful.
AntoniaJames October 20, 2010
This is a terrific recipe. (I'd probably use local just-picked Pink Ladies, though, which have become my apple of choice for this kind of dessert.) Saved!!! ;o)