Heidi Bakes: Apple Crisp

I could not wait to bake something upon my return from New York. I noticed all of the apples sitting on my counter that were not in the best condition - not good eating condition anyway. Even though it was 90 degrees outside (very unsual for Seattle this time of year) and turning on the oven would make it feel hotter - I felt I HAD to bake something! So I decided to make something that wouldn't take much effort -apple crisp would work. I did not follow a recipe - just kind of made it up as I went along and it turned out to be one of the best apple crisps I've ever made. It's a little on the sweet side but I personally like it like that. The topping was made up of flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, granulated sugar, a pinch of salt, butter & oats. It ended up being a pretty thick layer of topping - just how I like it! I baked it until it was golden brown and crunchy on top with some still big chunks of topping mixed in. The apples were cut into irregular size chunks which is what I intentionally set out to do. I like it when some apples in my crisp or pie are slightly firmer and some are soft enough to kind of "gel". It's almost like you achieve a kind of applesauce with some apple chunks in it. Yeah, I like it like that. Apple crisp is a wonderful way to use up apples that are less than perfect. Some of my apples were completely bruised on one side or were slightly shriveled. I just peeled the skin off and rescued as much of the apple that I could. If you are lucky enough to have an apple tree in your yard, this would be a great way to make use of the apples that have fallen on the ground. I must have used 5 different varieties of apples in this crisp. Any kind works well (with maybe the exception of red delicious).

I got my system going here! Chop apples, core them, peels & cores into one bowl, apple chunks into another bowl.
I made this topping up as I went along. I kept adding more & more of whatever until I reached the consistency and taste of what I was looking for. I softened the butter alot before blending it in. I've heard people say that colder butter chunks will result in a crunchier topping - mine was plenty crunchy and my butter was borderline melted. Much easier to incorporate I figure.

Ready to go into the oven!

Mmmm! Just came out of the oven!

The juice on the side was bubbling away when I removed it from the oven! Then it slowly thickened as it cooled to become a nice sweet & spicy syrupy sort of sauce.

I could not even wait until the crisp was somewhat cool before I broke into it. Besides, I had to take photos so I needed to scoop some out for the photo shoot! It was pretty darn hot when I ate it. Gosh, it was sure tasty.