apple crisp

The kitchen is my favorite place to be at a party. It sounds weird, I know. Most social and normal people like to be in the living room. But generally being in the kitchen entails being near both the food and the drinks--my two favorite things! I'm like a badger or something, pacing around the resources. I usually meet kindred spirits in the kitchen.

And, at the parties I like to be at most of all, there's some cooking going on. And most times I either volunteer to help--or end up cooking for myself since I have lactose issues. Either way, I somehow get roped into things. (Not that I'm complaining--I love it!)

At one particular party, I was doing my usual skulking around the kitchen when the host asked me to make a dessert. And when someone asks slightly-tipsy you to make a dessert in their house (unfamiliar territory) and you have no smartphone (unlimited recipes), you make crisp.

Because crisp is easy. It's flexible, unlike the vast majority of baking, and has the added bonus of being absolutely delicious. You can use...well, just about any fruit in the world. You just...bake it until it's done!

This is the best thing in the world to eat for breakfast if you've got leftovers--and if you're like me and brazenly eat cookies for breakfast most days, this provides you with a socially acceptable alternative.

~*~

Adapted from nowhere in particular--a little of this, a little of that. Crisp wasn't my idea, ok?
Total time: 1 hr 10 minutes

3 apples, peeled, cored, and diced (enough to fill a 9" pie pan--use firm, flavorful apples, not mealy ones)
zest 1 lemon
juice 1/2 lemon
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp sugar*
1 tbsp flour
pinch nutmeg
1 vanilla bean, seeded**

2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats***
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted (if you use salted, omit the salt)
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar (brown is preferable, but I used white sugar, replacing a tbsp with a tbsp of maple syrup for that caramel flavor and it turned out great)

*I don't use very much sugar, to let the pleasant tart-sweet flavor of the Opal apples we have here shine, but if you're using particularly sour apples (like Granny Smith), I'd add another spoon or two of sugar to the apple mix or use agave, which is sweeter than sugar. Or, you can dial back the lemon juice. Taste your apples and decide for yourself.

**I use vanilla beans whose seeds I have already used. You can seed your beans and keep them, then use the empty pods to flavor different dishes. (Just don't eat them by accident!) I tuck one into the apple mixture to give it a nice flavor and smell. If you just have a regular one, mix in the pulp and use the bean, or if you're strapped for beans, add a 1/2 tbsp of vanilla extract.

*** Most crisps call for less oatmeal and add flour to the streusel topping, but I find that all the flour doesn't add anything texturally and generally prefer more oatmeal anyway. Let me know what you think if you try it out!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Core, peel, and dice your apples into small cube-like pieces. Lay them out in an even layer in a pie dish spritzed with a little spray canola oil or butter. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, cinnamon, flour, sugar, and nutmeg. Mix. Tuck in your vanilla bean (see note above).

Now make your crumbly topping. Melt butter in microwave (mine's usually done in 45 seconds to 1 minute). Add in oatmeal, salt, and sugar. The mixture may look a little wet at this point, but don't worry--it will dry out and get crunchy in the oven. Spread it over your apples and stick it in the oven.

Bake for about 1 hour--until juices are bubbly and look dark brown, and the top is crunchy. Test to make sure that you can easily put a knife through the apple pieces.

Now hide it from your friends...and enjoy. You could put some ice cream on it, but then you might just die from the awesomeness.