Apple Crisp vs. Apple Pie

This time of year we think about cleaning out the freezers and making room for a new year's bountiful harvest.  In the fall, we have a secret apple tree on public ground where we pick enough apples to peel, cut up, and measure into 4-cup zip-lock baggies for wintertime desserts.  The apples from this tree are medium tart and ideal for baking a luscious crisp.

The double-crusted apple pie is one of America's favorites, along with baseball and the Chevrolet, don't they say.  Well, nutritional experts have stepped into the picture and warn that pie crusts are culprit carriers of the caloric bacteria.  So, that's why we lean toward baking the apple crisp instead of the pie....and we tell ourselves we're watching our weight.....and we tell ourselves we're lowering our cholesterol by eating oatmeal....and we tell ourselves cinnamon is good for us.....and the apples will keep the doctor away.

All of us have a favorite cookbook, the one we reach for first.  If yours is like mine, it's got ring stains and other marks of use, but these add character and substance and make it more desirable to the next generation.  They're the fingerprints of a good cook, I always say.

Right out of the oven

A couple days ago we brought up two bags of these apples from the basement freezer.  Hubby asked if I'd like to throw together a crisp.  Sure, that was easy to incorporate into my schedule.  It's a yummy crisp that calls for ingredients already in the cupboard, and I'd like to share it......

Apple Crisp  

8 cups diced apples

1/2 c. flour

1 c. sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 T. lemon juice

TOPPING:

1 stick butter

1 c. flour

1 c. oatmeal

1 c. brown sugar

Toss apples in flour, sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice mixture.  Put into a baking dish.

Topping:  Mix softened butter, flour, brown sugar and oatmeal until crumbly.  Pour over apples and pack to seal edges.  Bake 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes until topping is crispy golden brown.

Serve warm with ice cream and watch it get oozy and goozy and slurpy good!