Cran-Apple Crisp

We still have apples from the apple picking we did a couple of weeks back so I was looking for a way to use some more of them up. I actually saw this very cool apple "pie" with an oatmeal cookie crust that looked awesome, but in the end I took the lazy way and just made a crisp. I saw a couple of recipes for crisps around the internet, but I didn't really follow any particular one. I had Chris peel and slice 6 cups of apples for me, threw in 3/4 of a cup of frozen cranberries, 1/3 of a cup of maple syrup, some cinnamon and vanilla and tossed that altogether. In a separate bowl I made the crisp topping that I used for my strawberry rhubarb crisp which featured crystallized ginger and brown sugar.

The apple mixture went into a deep dish pie pan, the crumble went on top of that and the whole thing went into the oven for 40 minutes until the apples were soft and the filling was bubbling up around the edges (and naturally onto the bottom of the oven to burn and smoke up the house).

I taste-tested it while it was still warm -- just to make sure the apples were done of course -- and it was good, but not that interesting. After cooling off for 30 minutes the flavors came together and the whole thing was much, much better.



For the crisp:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 tsp ground ginger
pinch of salt
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (or almonds, pecans or whatever other nut takes your fancy)
1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For the filling:
6 cups peeled and sliced apples
3/4 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 375. Place a 9 inch deep dish pie pan on a rimmed baking sheet and spray with cooking spray.

put all the crisp ingredients in a medium bowl and stir until everything is well combined.

in a separate bowl toss all the filling ingredients until the apples and cranberries are coated with syrup and spices.

Pour the filling ingredients into the pie dish, then crumble the crisp topping over it.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until the apples are tender and the filling mixture is bubbling up around the edges. Let cool at least 30 minutes before eating.