Move over, apple pie! Apple crisp is now king!
By the way, be sure to check out our Slow Cooker Peach Crisp!
Healthy Apple Crisp
You may not know this about me, but pie is not my favorite dessert. Don't get me wrong. I do LIKE pie. However, pies that have double crusts (think fruit pies) leave me bogged down in the crust and I don't enjoy the ‘meat' of the pie.
I would much rather spend my time enjoying the pie filling than the crust. That's why I LOVE fruit crisp! I get everything that I love (the yummy middle and delicious crumble top) and skip the crust altogether!
Plus, the additional benefit is that the crust is the most fattening calorie-dense part of the pie. To that end, fruit crisp is much healthier 🙂
And this recipe…woah, it's seriously the most simple, best-tasting apple crisp! I have tried so many variations, but keep coming back to this one. It hardly lasts 10 minutes in my house – the whole family loves it!
Plus, I love easy it is to throw together and how adaptable it is!
Highly Adaptable
This apple crisp is perfect for adapting for people with food allergies. No nuts already, use gluten-free flour and gluten-free oats if needed. Use oil for the butter if you need to make this dairy free.
Use the right ingredients
To make apple pie or apple crisp, it's important to pick the right kind of ingredients. Some of those ingredient choices are more a matter of personal preference than a necessity for the recipe.
For example, I vastly prefer using quick oats in my crisp than old-fashioned oats. That's totally a personal preference (for me it's texture).
For the apples, I highly recommend using something that keeps it's texture, like a granny smith. If you should choose to use a sweeter apple, I recommend reducing the amount of sugar you add to your crisp.
I highly recommend using a dough cutter to mix the crumble ingredients together. It takes half the time to mix together with the dough cutter, and the cutter helps give you that perfect crumble texture!
Make it ahead of time
Slice the apples, add a little bit of lemon juice so the apples don’t brown (about 2 tsp for the amount of this recipe – finger the juice through the apples to cover the apples).
Store the apple in an air-tight container, in the fridge, for up to one day.
Make the crumble topping and put it in a separate ziplock bag, in the fridge. When ready to bake, remove from the fridge, and sprinkle the topping on top. Bake as directed.
Freeze it
Prepare and bake the apple crisp according to the directions. Cool the crisp completely, then cover it with a double layer of aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then warm in a 350°F oven for 20-25 minutes or until heated through.
Enjoy those Fall apples!!
Tell us in the comments below: Do you prefer pie or crisp? What's your favorite fruit dessert?
Check out these other popular posts!
Perfect-every-time Pumpkin Spice Bread
Slow Cooker 3 Bean Chili
22 Awesome Fall Family Activities to Make Lasting Memories!
- 5 medium tart cooking apples peeled and thinly sliced; Granny Smith or Rome are my favs
- 3/4 cup brown sugar not packed
- 1/2 cup flour I have used a mixture of white and wheat (50/50 blend)
- 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
- 1/3 cup butter, softened and cut up
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp nutmet A little of this goes a long way
- Heat oven to 375 degrees. Use non-stick spray to spray down an 8x8x2 square baking dish.
- Spread out thinly sliced apples throughout the bottom of your baking dish. Combine other ingredients and spread out over the top of the apples.
- Bake approximately 30 minutes, or until topping is browned.
- Remove from oven, let sit for 5-10 minutes. Serve warm with your favorite vanilla bean ice cream!
**This recipe can be doubled and baked in a 9x13 pan.
I like this post, enjoyed this one thanks for putting up.
Looks so good!!
Hi Julie! Oh it IS good! I dare you to try it 🙂
I definitely have to agree with you about the whole pie thing. Fruit crisps are the best! Yay for delicious and healthier! Pinning!
Yes they are! And Yay for easy too!!!
I totally agree with you, I just don’t love pie because of the crust! I can’t wait to try this recipe because I love fall baking! 🙂
Hey Loni! YES! Skip the crust and indulge in fun fall baking (it’s my favorite time of the year to bake too)!!
I haven’t had an apple crisp in a really long time. Thanks for posting!
You are welcome Christina! I hope you love it! Thanks for stopping by.
This does sound good. We’ve been eating apples, but I keep buying more and more and the refrigerator is groaning. I keep thinking I’ll make some pies, but haven’t. I like this idea of doing the prep ahead, and it is sure a lot easier than making pies. I want to try it.
Hey Rosie! Good to see you! Apple crisp is SO much easier than making apple pie. I LOVE how it tastes and it makes the house smell so good when baking! Use some of those apples for apple crisp 🙂