Easy and Fast Apple Crisp!

A quick and delicious weeknight dessert!

My kids like dessert and snacks. Okay, they LOVE dessert and snacks and you know what? They get it a lot. I buy a very minimal amount of processed foods. I make our bread, all of our food, and most of their snacks.

There really are several reasons that I do this. The first being for our health. When I make them the food they are eating I know exactly what is going into their little bodies! I know they aren't getting High Fructose Corn Syrup, Red Dye #40, any of the other dyes and no artificial sugars! Are they always getting "healthy" desserts and snacks. Hell no! They have cookies, cakes, quick breads, turnovers, and whatever else I feel like making them during the day! These are some lucky kids huh?

The other night I was going out for dinner with a friend of mine and I made sure that the family had leftover pizza for dinner but I also quickly threw together a really quick apple crisp with some poorly neglected apples. I was inspired to do this after reading Kelly's post here about a very elegant Maple Oat Apple Crisp that she had made. This one needed to be quick though. So this is what I threw together...

Easy and Fast Apple Crisp (I have no idea where this is from I have used it FOREVER)

5 cups peeled, sliced apples, pears or peaches
2 - 4 Tbsp of brown sugar
1/2 cup regular Quaker Oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup butter

• Pre heat oven to 375°
• Place fruit in a 8 X 1 1/2 " round baking dish (or any other small dish that you choose), stir in the 2 - Tbsp brown sugar.
• For the topping, in a mixing bowl combine the oats, brown sugar, flour, nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon. Cut in butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. I usually use my fingers to do this. It seems to mix it faster.
• Sprinkle topping over the fruit.
• Bake in a 375° oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until fruit is tender and topping is a nice golden color.
• This can be served warm with ice cream.

This recipe is incredibly versatile but the basic one I follow. Here are some changes I make

• Throw in some dried fruit
  
• Use a different shaped pan or dish
• Add some neglected pears or berries
• Make it smaller or larger
• Add more crumb topping
• Add different spices (cardamom, cloves etc.)

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com