Easy Apple Crisp Recipe

Apple crisp, or apple crumble, is a classic winter dessert, with numerous variations.

Cooking apples are the classic choice. You can use them raw, and they will cook through as the topping browns or, for a fluffier texture, stew them separately for five minutes before assembling the dish.

Variations
You can use plain apples, or add other fruit. Blackberries are perfect in autumn, and blackcurrants work well, too, in the summer. Both of these need to be added to apple, as the flavour is overpowering if you use them by themselves.

You can also add dried fruit, such as raisins or sultanas to the apple. A few nuts stirred into the topping give a good crunch and increase the nutritional value of the dish. Try chopped walnuts or pecans, or top with slivered almonds before baking.

No easy apple crisp recipe, or apple crumble recipe, would be complete without spices. Use cloves, either whole or ground, with the apples, and add half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the topping, for a spicy, fragrant dish.

For other delicious ideas for cooking with apples, see

• Baked apple recipes
• Easy healthy apple recipes
• Mini-apple pies made with filo pastry

EASY APPLE CRISP OR CRUMBLE RECIPE

Serves 4 Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. Peel, core and slice 3 cooking apples. Put them in an ovenproof dish and sprinkle over 2 tbsp sugar. Use a food processor to whiz together 175g (1 ½ cups) plain flour and 85g (1/3 cup) butter until they resemble fine breadcrumbs. Alternatively, rub the fat into the flour by hand. Stir in 55g (1/3 cup) brown sugar and ½ tsp ground cinnamon. Sprinkle this mixture over the apples and bake until the top is browned and the apples are bubbling.

Make it even healthier

• Replace some of the flour with rolled oats. This makes for a crispier topping.
• Use sweet eating apples, so that you won’t need to sprinkle sugar over them. Be aware, though, that most varieties won’t cook to a pulp like cooking apples, but will stay in firm pieces.

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