Apple Crisp

Fall is here.


I'm slowly making my way through my fall to-do list.

1. Stew a chicken
2. Read some Robert Frost
   
3. Visit the pumpkin patch
4. Carve a Jack-O-Lantern
5. Roast pumpkin seeds
6. Listen to Willie Nelson's album The Red-Headed Stranger from start to finish in one sitting.
7. Grow a beard
8. Spend the afternoon creatively loafing in downtown Lawrence.
   
9. Take a Sunday drive to view the fall foliage
10. Bake a ham
11. Reread The River Why.
    
12. Organize my sweaters
    
13. Enjoy the Maple Leaf Festival
14. Make ham and bean soup
15. Jump in a pile of leaves
16. Make an apple crisp

Yesterday I prepared an apple crisp. It's a slapdash affair, perfect for a guy like me who doesn't possess a delicate, artful touch. A little whole wheat in the crisp gives this apple crisp a nutty flavor.


Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
• 3/4 cup quick-cooking oats
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar, divided
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
• 1/2 cup chilled butter, cut into small pieces
• 6 cups (about 2 1/2 pounds) chopped peeled apples (I used Winesap Apples grown by Beisecker Farms in Baldwin City, Kansas).
  

Note: I sometimes add a little nutmeg to the crisp topping. Sometimes I also add a little lemon juice and lemon zest to the apple mixture. Tonight I didn't have a lemon.

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 375°.

2. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, oats, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in a medium bowl; cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal.

3. Combine 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, and apples in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with oat mixture. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until apples are tender.
   

Enjoy,

muddywaters