Our 10 Best Apple Crisp Recipes of All Time (2024)

FAQs

What are the best apples for apple crisp? ›

What Makes A Good Apple For Apple Crisp? The best apples for baking keep their structure under heat, which prevents the chunks of fruit from turning into mush after baking. The firm and crisp Granny Smith and Honeycrisp varieties are popular apples to use in apple pies and apple crisps.

The lemon juice will keep the apples from turning brown. Set your prepared apple crisp aside on the counter until ready to bake. Put the apple crisp in the oven to bake just as you are serving dinner. And by the time dinner is over, this warm syrupy dessert will be ready.

Like an apple crisp, an apple crumble is a baked fruit dessert with a layer of topping. But unlike the crisp, the crumble topping rarely includes oats or nuts. Instead, a crumble's topping is more like streusel, made with flour, sugar and butter.

In a large bowl, toss together apples, granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon salt; transfer to prepared dish. In a bowl with an electric mixer, beat butter with brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in 1 cup flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt until large pieces form. Scatter over filling.

Storage quality also varies by cultivar. The best apples to store long-term have thick skin and tend to be crisp and tart. Apple varieties such as Gala, Granny Smith, Fuji, McIntosh, Winesap, Honeycrisp, Northern Spy, and Rome are known to store very well given the proper conditions.

Baking: Start baking the apple crisp covered with foil. This allows the apples to soften without any risk of the topping over-browning. After about 20 minutes, remove the foil and let the crisp finish cooking uncovered. Once the juices are bubbling, the topping is golden brown, and the apples are tender, it is done!

Adding cornstarch and flour to the apple mixture will help bring your crisp's filling together. You want to make sure you have a nice balance of the sweet and tart in your dessert. Taste your apples for sweetness before adding sugar to your filling.

How do you keep apple crisp from getting soggy? If it's soggy, you've got to remember to refrigerate the topping with butter before you add it to the crisp. It doesn't need long, just enough time as you prepare the rest of the dessert so that it will cook up crispy rather than turn soggy.

This has led some historians to believe that Betty was the name of the cook and creator of the recipe and that brown was in reference to her skin color.

Both are very similar apple desserts, but the difference mainly comes down to the crumble topping: Instead of the flour and oat mixture used in an apple crisp, an apple brown betty uses breadcrumbs for its crumbly, delicious topping.

How can you tell when apple crisp is done? ›

Bake the apple crisp until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden brown and crisp, about 45 minutes. Serve the crisps warm with vanilla bean ice cream or fresh whipped cream, if desired.

However, we also love adding porridge oats for extra chewiness, as in these recipes for very-berry oat crumble and American-style apple crisp. Chopped and toasted nuts such as pecans, almonds or hazelnuts also make a lovely addition to a traditional crumble, for taste as well as an extra-crunchy texture.

The main reason your crumble topping isn't crunchy is probably because you haven't used Demerara sugar. Although, it could also be that you've got your topping ingredient quantities wrong: either too much or not enough flour and butter alongside the sugar.

For the best pies, crisps, and other baked treats, apples need to be firm enough to hold their own during the cooking process. We call these apples “baking apples” and to namedrop, they include Braeburn, Cortland, Honey Gold, Jonathan, Fuji, Gala, Granny Smith, Haralson, and Newtown Pippin.

Texture & Use in Recipes: In terms of texture, Fuji apples are also a lot crisper, and less dense than Gala apples. So, they result in a firm bite with juicy flesh while Galas are softer and creamier. Their texture also means that Fujis are better for baking as they hold their shape better than Galas when cooked!