Yummy Apple Crisp

This recipe is super simple and ALL of the ingredients are easily found at any grocery store.  It’s an old favorite of mine dating back to my hippy days when I lived in a vegetarian housing co-op (in college), so it’s a little crunchy granola like – but I love it.

The overall concept is to slice up some apples and layer them with a sweet crumble, then bake.  The ingredients list makes about 6-8 servings in an oblong baking dish, but you can shrink it to serve just you and your sweetie, or expand it to take to a BBQ.  It is not delicate.

INGREDIENTS:

8 – 10 medium apples (choose crisp, tart varieties, mix and match)

Juice of 1 lemon

½ cup chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds, maybe some sunflower seeds)

2 cups raw oats (not the shredded “instant” variety)

¾ cup flour

½ cup butter

1/3 cup honey

½ cup orange juice

1 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. nutmeg (Portuguese: noz-moscada)

½ tsp. salt

PROCEDURE:

Peel, pare and slice the apples.  You don’t want them to be too big, but don’t slice them too thin either. Drizzle the apple slices with fresh lemon juice. Toss.  Spread half of the apples into a suitable, greased, baking dish.

Mix the oats, flour, nuts/seeds, salt and spices in a bowl. Melt the butter and honey together. Pour over the dry ingredients and mix well.  It should be a somewhat dry, crumbly mixture.  If it looks too dry, add a touch more melted butter.  Some might want to add a little sugar to sweeten things up.  This recipe is not a super sweet one.  (Hippies like to taste the nuts, oats and fruit and not just the sugar.)

Crumble half of the mixture over the apples in your pan.  Cover with the remaining apples, and then the rest of the topping.  Pour the orange juice over everything. Bake 40 – 45 minutes, uncovered, at 375 degrees F.  Watch it near the end and cover it if it crisps too quickly.  You want the apples cooked well, but not mushy.

Serve with vanilla ice cream, or drizzle your serving with crème de leite.

NOTE: if you want to add raisins, include them with the apples, not the crumble topping.  You can also use pears or peaches, but then reduce the cooking time by perhaps 20 minutes.

Oh, and if you have any leftover the next morning, put some in a bowl, heat it up in the microwave, pour a little milk over it and enjoy a super scrumptious hippy, crunchy, granola breakfast.

This recipe is only slightly modified from the original published in the Mooswood Cookbook.