Apple Crisp

The first thing I ever baked was an unmitigated disaster. Mind you I was eleven, and of course I blame the entire thing on my mother (as all eleven-year-old girls, perhaps all girls, do). And before you say, ‘oh it couldn’t have been that bad’, it was. It tasted like poison. It produced spasmodic-like coughing and burning sensations.

But really, it was all mom’s fault.

Let me explain. My mother loves to cook but does not like inconvenient things like recipes. Like most moms, she had a recipe book where she would write in family recipes and put cut outs of articles from the newspaper, Gourmet, and Bon Appetite. But the family recipes she did include were really more like a list of ingredients, a temperature and instructions that read “mix and bake”. It was like a secret code that only she and my grandmother were capable of cracking. Those who had made that recipe 25+ times and therefore only needed to be reminded of what was in it to be able to reproduce it.

And so when I set out to make my favourite Apple Crisp, I attempted to follow a recipe that said:

1 cup flour, oats, brown sugar, 2/3 cup butter, cinnamon. 350F

And so, ever the rule follower, I mixed 2/3 a cup of butter and 2/3 a cup of cinnamon. I essentially made apple tear gas.

And sure, anyone who has stepped foot in a kitchen before would know not to put 2/3 a cup of cinnamon in a dish. BUT I WAS ELEVEN! So again: all mom’s fault.

Lucky for you, I have translated mom’s recipe with easy to follow instructions and clearly marked measurements.  I assure you, when done properly, this is everything you would want from apple crisp- light on the cinnamon, heavy on the crisp, and bearing no resemblance to poison.

Apple Crisp

10 cups of apples, peeled and thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar, divided
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup of butter, softened

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, mix the peeled and sliced apples with 1/2 cup brown sugar and cinnamon. Place in the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 casserole dish.

Using a pastry blender, a fork (or your hands), combine the remaining ingredients. Sprinkle on top of the apples. Bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until the top is golden and the apples tender.