Apples have been on my brain lately because when my mind thinks about fall it immediately goes back to days in the kitchen spent with my mother. We'd throw open the windows, clean, and decorate the house. She'd light a candle that smelt like apple pie straight from the oven and we'd let the crisp fall day fill up our home. There's an inexplicable perfectness to days like those in my mind.

Inspired by those days and houses that smell like cinnamon and apple desserts, I've been making apple everything. I've made baked apples in tin foil, apple pies, cobblers, and crisps. This apple crisp has been my latest foray into apple related baking and the results were pretty yummy. So, I thought I'd share my process here with you (adapted and inspired from a combination of this recipe and this recipe)! Excited? Me too!

You'll need:

For the Filling:

5 medium (or 6 smaller) Granny Smith Apples

1+ cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup (or 1 stick) butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp bourbon (optional, but encouraged)

For the Topping:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 cup quick oats / plain oats

1 cup brown sugar 

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup (or 1 stick) butter

First off, you're going to need to set to work peeling those apples (either via peeler or paring knife). This is not necessarily a quick task, but it can be really perfect for a day when you have plenty of time on your hands. I love getting my apples, a bowl for the skin, and setting up shop in front of Netflix on my laptop. It's practically therapeutic and gives my hands a mindless, yet rewarding task, to concentrate on.

In the bowl add your 1+ cups of flour. I say 1+, because I'll leave it up to you to decide the right amount to thoroughly coat your apples. 1 to 1 1/2 will cups will usually do it for me. I've done versions of the recipe where I've measured everything out stickler style and other times where I've just sort of eye balled it. As long as your apples have a nice even coating, you're good!

Then add in your brown sugar, sugar, and cinnamon. I also tend to eyeball my cinnamon contribution, adding more or less as I see fit. Don't be afraid to play with quantities slightly to accommodate your taste or just coating the amount of apples you have to your liking. 

Mix/toss dry ingredient to coat.

In in a skillet on the stove, turned to the medium setting, add your stick of butter. The butter will  melt and begin to foam. Stir almost continuously through this process (which should only last a matter of minutes - if it seems like it's taking a long time, up the heat slightly). The butter will then begin to turn from yellow to brown in a noticeable way. Once the butter is browned, that's when it is done. Some people describe the butter as having a nutty aroma in the brown stage (though I've never particularly smelt it). Transfer the browned butter from the skillet to your bowl of apples.

Add in your bourbon  to the mixture (I happened to have an airplane sized bottle of Jack Daniels on hand that sufficed) and combine the wet ingredients with the dry until all of the apples are coated evenly and entirely. Adjust mixture slightly if needed (i.e. - adding a little extra sugar or cinnamon).

In the end, it should look something like the picture below!

Next up, grease the pan you plan to bake in. A 9x9in square pan (pictured) works great for this! Add in the apple filling mixture, spreading it out evenly in the pan. 

If you're like me, you're going to have to resist eating the apples right then and there. It's okay to sneak a bite.

Now it's time to get down to making the "crisp" part of the apple crisp! Yay! For the crisp, start by adding your 1 and 1/2 cup of plain oats (sometimes called "quick oats") to a bowl. I thought 1 cup would be enough originally, but I ended up adding more oats in order to stretch the topping. If you feel like 1 cup would be enough, great, but I'm recommending slightly more!

Combine the flour, brown sugar, and sugar with the oats. Add in the stick of butter (not melted or softened, but cold). Use clean hands to combine the butter with the oat mixture, until the entire mixture has a coarse / crumbled look to it.

Once combined, spread the crumble mixture over the apple filling in the pan. Spread evenly and press down into the pan. It should look somewhat like the above picture.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 45-55 mins. You'll know it's done when the top of the crisp is golden brown and the inside is warm and gooey. I checked on mine at 45 mins and it looked more or less done, but I thought it could go a little longer and be okay. I let it go until 55 mins. The edges were a little crispier, but overall the entire crisp was unharmed. If I were to do it again, I'd pull it out at 50 mins time for a nice medium.

There you go - you're all done! 

Feel free to serve with vanilla ice-cream for the perfect compliment/extra indulgent experience. The crispiness of the topping compared to the gooey, sweet middle is sensational. It's perfect served after dinner. If you have leftovers (like I did), it's also really easy to throw it in the microwave and have it for breakfast the next day (pictured above). It's still totally yummy!

I served this to my guy friends (who've also sampled the rest of my apple related baked goods) and they gave me two thumbs up on this one for the topping and clever use of bourbon. 

Please let me know if you give this a try. I know that if I can pull this off, you certainly can!

xoxo

So tell me, have you made anything good late;y? If so, what was it and can you point me in the direction of a recipe?!