Recipe: Apple Crisp

With four huge granny smith apples sitting in my fridge, all it took was scrolling past a couple of apple crisp Thanksgiving desserts on Instagram to know what I needed to do with them. Fortuitously I'd even acquired a 9'' x 13'' glass baking dish at Superstore a couple of weeks ago. Clearly, apple crisp was meant to happen.

A little Googling led me straight to Diane Kester's AllRecipes.com recipe, which has 4.5 stars and over 4000 reviews; evidently the way to go. Here's the recipe, modified slightly for healthification purposes (i.e. less sugar):

• 10 cups apples, peeled, cored, and sliced (I just used 4 giant granny smith apples, instead of measuring; and since I don't get too fused about apple skins and I was feeling lazy, I left them on)
• 1/2 cup white sugar (reduced from 1 cup)
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup quick oats (I'm quite the oat fan, so upped this to 1.5 cups)
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (reduced from 1 cup)
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter, melted

Place the sliced apples in a 9'' x 13'' glass pan. Mix the white sugar, 1 tbsp flour, and ground cinnamon together (I also mixed in a pinch of nutmeg), and sprinkle it over the apples. Pour water evenly over the apple mixture.

Combine the oats, 1 cup flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and melted butter together (I also sprinkled some extra cinnamon into this mixture).

Crumble this topping evenly over the apple mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees F for around 45 minutes.

A little ways into baking my apartment began to smell like cinnamony nutmegy deliciousness. I couldn't not scoop out a piece as soon as the crisp came out of the oven.

I'll say that this recipe definitely lives up to all of its terrific reviews. The topping is buttery, crumbly yet crusty, and just the right sweetness. The apple slices are perfectly gooey, saturated with sugar and spices.

While next time I might peel the apples, I don't think I'd change any of the ingredients in making this again. Even with tart granny smith apples, the reduced amounts of sugar left it plenty sweet. My only problem is how fast this apple crisp is disappearing; perhaps it'll be safer to stick with the single-serving version (which I'll just say is possibly the best use of a microwave ever).