This recipe is a special one in our house. My sister is a nutritionist, and she has owned her own restaurant and several catering businesses over the years and develops many of her own recipes. Sometimes she shares a recipe with our whole family, like this one, and if you have a chance to make it you’ll definitely see why it’s worth sharing.
This apple crisp has a deliciously thick syrup coating lovely baked apples on the bottom layer, but the real star of the show is the crumble on top. It’s a fairly straightforward, standard crisp topping with spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, except for one special secret ingredient – instant butterscotch pudding mix. This addition gives this apple crisp extra depth and rich flavor without being overwhelming.
We have a small crabapple tree in our backyard, and it took several years for it to start producing apples in any large quantity, but this year we got a good two dozen or so. We love to use the apples in baked goods and homemade applesauce since they’re quite tart. Those apples are what we used in this recipe when we made it twice this fall, but of course any other variety of apple would work just as well depending on your personal preference.
Make your taste buds happy this season and try out this twist on a classic apple crisp recipe!
APPLESCOTCH CRISP
Serves: 8 – 12
Prep time: 30 min
Baking time: 60 min
INGREDIENTS:
Apple Base:
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup milk
1 cup water
⅛ cup flour
2 lbs apples
Butterscotch Crumble Topping:
1 ⅓ cup flour
1 cup oatmeal
½ cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg (optional, to taste)
⅛ tsp cloves (optional, to taste)
8 oz instant butterscotch pudding mix
1 cup walnuts (optional)
½ – ¾ cup butter, melted
DIRECTIONS:
- Pre-heat oven to 350˚ Grease a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray.
- For the apple base: In a large bowl, whisk to combine brown sugar, milk, water, and flour. Core apples and thinly slice, combining apples with wet mixture and stirring to coat apples as you go.
- Spread apple mixture evenly in bottom of baking dish, making sure all apples have been coated by wet mixture. Wet mixture will still be very runny at this point.
- For the butterscotch crumble topping: In a separate bowl, combine dry topping ingredients and mix well. Spices can be added to taste.
- Slowly pour desired amount of melted butter into mixture while stirring with fork, and continue combining until crumbly.
*More butter will result in a more moist crumble mixture. End of mixing may be done with hands depending on how large or small you like your crumble pieces.
- Bake until apples are tender, top is golden brown, and edges are bubbling, about 1 hour. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.
