If you happened to catch last week’s article, we were talking about warm and cozy recipes. Which is especially appropriate during this cold and drizzly weather that we have been having.

It’s time for fall flavors, which means; chili, apple crisp, pumpkin bread, hot cocoa, cider, and the endless list of seasonal items that could be mentioned here. All of my favorite foods during one of the very prettiest times of the year.

This is also the last couple months of enjoying grabbing a light coat, if any, and heading right out the door without having to throw on gloves and boots to clean your car off.

Enjoy it while it lasts, friends!

Even more so if you are in the same boat of not only bundling yourself up, but also bundling up at least one small person, or two, or three…

We’ll embrace it with joy when the time comes, because the only other option is to be miserable, really.

While the easy weather is here, though, I’m going to soak it up.

Recently, we went apple picking at a friend’s house, and came home with enough apples that we just needed to bake something.

It’s a bit of a tradition of ours to make apple crisp as soon as we get home from apple picking, so that’s just what we did.

There were a few votes that we make both apple crisp and apple pie, but since the voters were not doing any of the peeling, a couple batches of apple crisp is what we landed on.

Always a good choice.

It was a bit of a funny story, since we had talked about going apple picking that afternoon, but weren’t quite sure where to go.

A short while later, a friend of ours, who we didn’t even realize had apple trees, invited us over to ensure that their apples were all enjoyed this year.

Boy did they call the right family!

Perfect timing for both of us. I just love when these things happen.

All of this to say, that I have a tried and true apple crisp recipe to share. I have been using this one for at least nine years, perhaps longer.

This one ensures that you get extra of the actual crisp, since the ratio can sometimes be off. If the crisp isn’t something you enjoy about this dessert, then I’m sorry but you probably won’t like this recipe.

On the other side of that, if you’re like me, and the whole thing is your favorite, but especially that brown sugar and oatmeal mixture, this one’s for you.

As always, thanks for reading, and happy fall from hbk!

INGREDIENTS

8 C Peeled, sliced apples

4-6 Tbsp. Granulated sugar

1 C Rolled oats

1 C Brown sugar, packed

½ C All-purpose flour

½ tsp. Ground cinnamon

½ C Butter

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, and prepare a 9×11 pan.

2. Peel and slice apples. Cortlands make a great choice for baking, since they are larger than most varieties and peel easily.

3. Stir apples and sugar together. Depending on how tart your apples are, you may need just a little more. Add to taste, but remember they don’t need to be very sweet before baking because of the topping.

4. Mix the oats, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon together with a whisk.

5. Cut in the butter, until it resembles small crumbs. If the butter is still very cold, I like to cut into very small pieces and then cut in, to speed up the process just a bit.

6. Place apples in baking dish, and cover with the topping, spreading evenly across the top.

7. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or once the crisp is golden brown.

8. Allow to cool, can be served warm or cold. Don’t forget that vanilla ice cream or homemade whipped cream make a delightful addition to this dessert!