American
Apple Crisp
Sliced apples, lemon, cinnamon, and sugar bake under an oat, flour, and butter topping. The fruit should be tender and the edges bubbling before the pan comes out.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Total
- 1 hr
- Servings
- 6
- Difficulty
- Easy
Why you’ll love it
- Lemon keeps the apples from browning on the board and brightens the filling.
- A mix of tart and sweet apples gives the filling more than one note.
- Cold butter in the topping melts in the oven and makes crumbs instead of a paste.
- Bubbling fruit at the edge is the cue that the apples underneath are tender.
Ingredients
Ingredient amounts scale. Oven temperature and cook time do not. Salt, spices, and leaveners are a starting point after you scale. Taste and adjust.
Check the ingredients you still need, then add them. If nothing is checked, the full list is added. Saved on this device.
Instructions
- 1
Heat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 2-quart baking dish.
- 2
Toss the apples with the lemon juice, sugar, and cinnamon. Spread them in the dish.
- 3
Stir the oats, flour, brown sugar, and salt in a bowl. Work in the cold butter with your fingers until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs with some pea-size bits.
- 4
Scatter the topping over the apples. Do not pack it down.
- 5
Bake 35 to 45 minutes, until the topping is browned and the fruit is bubbling at the edges.
- 6
Pierce an apple slice near the center. It should be tender, not crunchy. If the topping is dark and the fruit is still firm, tent the dish with foil and bake 5 to 10 minutes more.
- 7
Cool 15 minutes so the juices thicken before you spoon it out.
Pro tips
- Use two kinds of apple if you can, one that stays firm and one that softens, such as Granny Smith and Honeycrisp.
- Cold butter matters. Soft butter makes a greasy paste instead of crumbs.
- The crisp sets as it cools. Serving it the second it leaves the oven gives you a runnier dish.
Easy substitutions
- apples
- pears, peeled and sliced the same way
- rolled oats
- an extra 1/2 cup flour if you are out of oats
- unsalted butter
- cold salted butter, and skip the added salt
Storage and reheating
Storage
Refrigerate covered for up to 4 days.
Reheating
Warm portions in a 350°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until the topping crisps again. A microwave heats the fruit but softens the topping.
Nutrition
Estimates per serving, using standard ingredient averages and rounded to the nearest gram. This is not a lab analysis, and it shifts if you change brands or add sides.
- Calories
- 390
- Protein
- 3 g
- Carbs
- 58 g
- Fat
- 16 g
- Fiber
- 5 g
Budget friendly · Oven
You might also like
Carrot Cake
A spiced sheet cake loaded with grated carrots and finished with cream cheese frosting. It bakes until the center is set, then cools fully before the frosting goes on.
1 hr · Medium
View recipe
Classic Apple Pie
A double butter crust filled with tart and sweet apples, sugar, and cinnamon. Bake it until the filling bubbles in the center, then let it cool so the slice holds.
1 hr 30 min · Medium
View recipe
Banana Bread
Ripe bananas, butter, sugar, egg, and baking soda bake into one loaf. It is done when a toothpick in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs, not wet batter.
1 hr 15 min · Easy
View recipe
Banana Cream Pie
A baked graham crust holds sliced bananas and a cooked vanilla custard. The yolks and cornstarch are boiled until thick, then the pie is chilled.
55 min · Medium
View recipeStill hungry?
More in the same lane, not a random mix.
Berry Crumble Bars
Fresh berries sit between an oat crumble made with butter, flour, and sugar. The bars need to cool in the pan so the fruit layer sets before you cut them.
1 hr · Easy
View recipe
Brookies
A chocolate chip cookie layer and a brownie layer bake in one pan until both are set. The middle is fudgy, not a pool of raw batter.
57 min · Medium
View recipe
Brownie Bites
These brownie bites stay fudgy because the batter uses less flour than a cake and comes out of the oven before the centers dry out. A toothpick should show moist crumbs, not wet batter and not a clean stick.
29 min · Easy
View recipe
Cheesecake Cups
Cream cheese, sugar, and egg bake in a muffin tin over a graham crust until the edges are set and the centers still wobble slightly. They need a chill after the oven so the texture settles.
40 min · Easy
View recipeFind something else
From the kitchen
Kitchen tools we love
Practical tools these recipes actually use. This is not a review roundup, and these are not paid placements. If affiliate links are added later, they will be labeled and disclosed.
A heavy 12-inch skillet
Most of the chicken and steak recipes are written for one pan that holds heat. Stainless or cast iron both work.
An air fryer with a real basket
The air-fryer recipes expect a single layer. A crowded basket steams instead of browning.
A half-sheet pan
Drumsticks, potatoes, sausage, and carrots all use one. A dark pan browns faster than a very shiny one.
A sharp chef’s knife
These recipes do not need a specialty blade. A sharp 8-inch knife is faster and safer than a dull one.
A large cutting board
Big enough that the onion and the raw chicken are not sharing the same puddle.
Dry cups and a liquid cup
Desserts in particular expect level dry measures and a separate cup for milk.
An instant-read thermometer
Use it for poultry, pork chops, and meatloaf. Color is a weak guide.
Read the affiliate disclosure.