Apple Crisp

Although this is a food blog, I share some of my life’s events with you and ask you to bear with me here. Our beloved niece Adina has passed away. A wife to Tuvia, her incredible husband who stood by her side through their joys in life and now in her darkest hours and showed a level of mesirut nefesh – dedication and devotion that was above and beyond which I know he would downplay, but none of us do.

The amazing extended family on both sides moved heaven and earth to help out Adina and Tuvia, who have 7 children, the eldest of whom is only 12 and the youngest not yet a year. It was amazing to see the devotion of our nieces and nephews and the brothers and sisters and our children and aunts and uncles (I don’t insult them by saying in-law children on either side of the family. Nobody behaves like an in-law, all behave as close family).

Our clan (which is literally what we call ourselves) and Tuvia’s clan are so amazing in how they helped out the family and waved it off as though it was nothing. And of course, it is incredible to see my brother and sister in law, Yocheved & Len and Tuvia’s parents Ruth and Barry, strong and amazing people, so loving, so supportive.

And here we are, they have finished the seven days of sitting shiva and now life begins anew but without Adina there. And yet, we must carry on. May her shining neshama have an aliyah and may she be a melitzat yosher for us and all Am Yisrael. I think she would’ve liked this comfort food and so, I dedicate this post to her, may her memory be a blessing.

One of the things I like best about apple crisp is that although it’s highly reminiscent of apple pie, it has a simple crumbly topping which needs no refrigeration, unlike pie dough, so you can have it done much quicker, no downtime here.

Start by gathering your ingredients, and turn on your oven to 350 F/180 C.

I just include a pic of the apples to show you what medium size means to me –

For your edification, I placed the ingredients for the crumble topping on the right and the apple mixture ingredients on the left. As you see above in the purple bowl are the peeled and sliced apples.

So for the crumble, place the flour, quick oats, brown sugar and salt in a medium bowl and stir together.

So either soften marg or butter or do what I do and zap in the microwave for about a minute or so till a bit melty and super soft. Easy peasy. K. Add marg/butter to bowl with flour mixture and with a spoon or your fingers (I put on my latex gloves for this and crumble away) and mix till nice crumbs form like so:

Good. Set aside. Now take your sliced (peeled and cored) apples in a large bowl and toss first with the lemon juice, then the cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and white sugar till nice and coated.

Now we put it all together. Pat the apples into a deep dish baking tin and take the bowl with the crumble and crumble it over the apples till a nice topping forms and no apples should be peeking out.

Place the pan into the hot oven (if it seems dangerously near the top of the tin, to prevent spillage in the oven, place a parchment lined baking pan beneath the deep dish tin).

Bake about 40 -50 minutes or till top is richly browned and apples when tested with a toothpick are completely tender. Cool on wire rack and serve generously with a big spoon.

Apple Crisp

Topping:

2 cups (250 grams) flour

1 cup (80 grams) quick cooking oatmeal

1 cup (213 grams) brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (200 grams) butter or margarine, very soft

Filling:

6 medium sized baking apples- I like Granny Smith – peeled, cored and sliced thin

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/3 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C.

Mix together in a medium bowl the flour, oatmeal, brown sugar and salt and combine that with the very soft butter/margarine till crumbly. Set aside.

In a separate bowl place the sliced apples and toss with the lemon juice and then the cornstarch, sugar and cinnamon and nutmeg. Place apples in a deep dish pie pan and evenly distribute the crumb mixture over the top. Bake 40-50 minutes or till top is browned and apples are completely soft (test with toothpick to judge apples’ doneness). Cool on wire rack and serve with a big spoon.