Apple Crisp

Whenever I think of apple crisp I think of school lunches. By the time I was in high school I refused to buy lunch at school mostly because the food was normally pretty awful. I would either take my lunch or, usually, not eat lunch at all and save the weekly $3.00 - $4.00 to buy gas for the car. Yes, back in the old days $3.00 would buy a lot of gas….I think gas was around seventy cents a gallon, maybe less. I would save my lunch money, combine that with babysitting money and/or allowance (babysitters made about $1.00 an hour) and I could fill up the car for around $10.00 and still have plenty left for a movie or going out to eat…maybe even buy a record or two, especially If they were 45’s.  Those were the days! Anyway, back to my story. One of the few times that I would buy the school lunch was on the day they served chili. The chili was actually quite good and along with chili I would get a peanut butter and honey sandwich and, one of my favorite desserts, apple crisp. The only time I ever got apple crisp was at school, Mom never made it and back then, I had no interest in cooking but I loved that stuff.

Many years later, I was in my 20’s and living on my own, I had some apples that I had been enjoying but wanted to do something with them other than just eat them raw, so I decided to try to bake something. I was new to cooking and baking at the time so wanted to make something simple. I pulled out my Betty Crocker cookbook and found a recipe for apple crisp…it looked like it would be similar to the apple crisp I had at school.  I peeled and sliced the apples, made the topping and put it in the oven. The aroma was heavenly, I love to smell apples, cinnamon and sugar baking, reminds me of home when my mom would bake apple pies. After it had baked and cooled a bit, I tasted it and was very pleased…it tasted just as I remembered, maybe even a little better than the apple crisp I enjoyed at school.
 
Apple Crisp
Print Recipe

4 cups sliced, peeled tart apples (about 4 medium)
2/3 - 3/4 cups brown sugar - (packed)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/3 cup butter

1. Heat oven to 375 F.
2. Grease a square 8x8x2 inch pan.
3. Place apple slices in pan.
4. Mix remaining ingredients thoroughly.
5. Sprinkle over apples.
6. Bake 30 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is golden brown.
7. Serve warm and, if desired, with light cream or ice cream.

Servings: 6

Source: Betty Crocker's Cookbook
Copyright: 1969 Twenty-first Printing 1974

Place 4 cups of peeled and sliced apples in an 8x8 inch pan. I don’t know what apples I used, I had some Jonathan and Cortland that I just mixed together.

 Mix together brown sugar (I used 2/3 cup), flour, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg and softened butter.

You can either use a fork, pastry blender or, as I usually do, your hands to mix the topping.

Spread topping over apples and bake.

I baked mine just a little over 30 minutes, until the apples were tender.

Serve warm and, if desired, with light cream or ice cream

Once again, someone decided to dig in as soon as I turned my back. About half of the Apple Crisp was gone before I had a chance to eat any. It was definitely Michael approved!