Crunch Top Apple Crisp

Crunch Top Apple Crisp

A great fall recipe, tastes great served warm or room temperature. Easily double recipe in a 9x13 baking dish to serve a crowd. Tastes even better with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  If you prefer a less sweet Apple Crisp, adjust the filling by using less sugar. This Apple Crisp gets a traditional oat, flour, butter and brown sugar-cinnamon topping, followed by an after-bake maple-cinnamon sugar corn flake mixture that gets added to the top for the last 5-7 minutes of baking. 

Butter 8x8 baking dish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Filling

5-6 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced 1/2 inch thick (about 4 cups)

1 tsp lemon juice

3 Tbs apple cider 

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar 

2 Tbs flour or cornstarch

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

2 Tbs butter to dot mixture 

Pinch of salt

Oat Topping

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup quick-cook rolled oats

1/2 tsp cinnamon or apple pie spice

1/4 tsp salt

8 tablespoons melted or very soft  unsalted butter.

Directions:

Mix together the oat topping ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. Should look crumbly.

In a buttered baking dish, add the prepared peeled and sliced apples and sprinkle with lemon juice and cider. Add the sugars, flour, spice and salt, stir to coat. Dot with butter. Add the prepared oat topping. Bake on middle rack of preheated oven for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and add the crunch top (recipe follows), and bake 5-7 minutes more.

Crunch Top-goes on last 5-7 minutes of baking.

3 cups cornflakes

1/4 tsp apple pie spice 

4 tablespoons butter

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 Tbs maple syrup

In a nonstick skillet-over medium low heat, melt butter, add sugar and maple syrup. Stir to melt the sugar granules for 3-5 minutes. Add spice, and salt and stir. Turn off heat. Mixture will be like a thick buttery syrup.

Add cornflakes to the pan and coat the cornflakes. Let the warm cornflake mixture rest in the pan. When apple crisp has baked 40 minutes-and is bubbling throughout, top with the cornflake mixture. Bake an additional 5-7 minutes to toast the crunch topping.  

Serve with vanilla ice cream warm or at room temperature. 

Reheats easily too-place in a warm 200 oven for 15-20 minutes.