ten eighty-four: In search of...

The perfect apple crisp.

It's no secret, I love apple crisp and every fall I search for a recipe that will become my recipe. This year I was determined to come up with my own, which is where I take another recipe and change it up for our tastes. I will tell you, I tried three times and I wasn't really thrilled with any of the attempts. Our first try ended in the trash because of a cayenne- cinnamon mix up. The second try, I adjusted the amounts of cinnamon and added to ginger to get the sweet spicy taste, which was nice but wasn't spectacular. The third time, I went to a different recipe all together and adjusted the cinnamon and that still didn't satisfy.

Until, I found a recipe from Al Roker. I know, seems a little strange, but I found it in my Facebook feed and I read it and thought why not try it. This did not disappoint! We all loved it. I believe I have found my favorite apple crisp recipe. I made some changes to the recipe and that is what I will share below but you can check out the original recipe in the link above.

Ingredients

Apple Filling:

8 cups of assorted apples (pears can be used)

6 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 tablespoons butter

1/8 cup apple cider

Crispy Topping:

1-1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup old fashioned oats

1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

Pinch ground nutmeg

8 tablespoons butter (1 stick), softened

Preparation

Cook apples:

Halve, core and slice apples. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in the sugar and spices. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons butter to melt. Add the apples and stir well. Cover skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until juices are released and apple have begun to soften, about 15 minutes. Uncover skillet and add cider. Continue to simmer the apples until juices have thickened, another 5-6 minutes.

Make crispy topping:

Preheat oven to 350'F. In a large bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, old fashioned oats, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add butter and work in with your fingers until mixture is crumbly. Use your hands to squeeze and press mixture together so that clumps form, this gets the butter fully incorporated and moistens the crumb thoroughly. Break up large clumps into smaller pieces.

Bake crisp:

Place cooked apples and all the syrupy liquid into a pre-buttered 9x13 baking dish. Spread the crispy topping mixture over the top of the apples.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until filling is bubbly and topping is crispy.