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Farm Fresh Apple Crisp

Dairy Free and Gluten Free

Our recent family outing was to a local apple farm. The Honeycrisp, Gala, Blonde and Jonagold apples were ready for pickin’, and we brought home several bags for eating and baking.

Three (monstrously large) Honeycrisp apples were cored and chopped to make this insanely amazing farm fresh apple crisp. 

We again opted to use gluten free and dairy free ingredients so our child could partake. This can be made with or without the substitutions and the results will be equally incredible.

Honeycrisp Is Just One Option

While we used Honeycrisp apples in this recipe, that was purely due to them being in-season during our annual apple farm outing. They are very sweet and juicy apples and are great if you want that super-sweet treat.
There are many varieties of apples that can be used for baking and can be used to make and excellent apple crisp during any season.

  • Granny Smith
    • Tart flavor balances sweetness, holds shape well during baking, and has a firm texture. Can be very tart and sometimes requires more sugar to compensate.
  • Honeycrisp
    •  Sweet-tart flavor, crisp texture, and holds up nicely during baking. More expensive and can be hard to find out of season.
  • Braeburn
    •  Excellent balance of sweet and tart, holds shape well, and adds depth of flavor.
  • Jonagold
    •  Sweet and slightly tart, with a soft texture that works well in crisps. May break down more than firmer varieties.
  • Empire 
    • Good sweetness with a hint of tartness, holds its shape well, and has a nice, juicy texture. 
  • Northern Spy
    •  Great flavor and texture, known for its tartness, making it ideal for desserts.

Apples can be ideal for eating and baking depending on there sweetness and flesh firmness.  Apples like Fuji, Red Delicious and Gala are perfect eating off the tree apples.  They may be come to mushy when baked for longer periods. These may not be ideal for apple crisp or apple pies.

Peel Or No Peel, You can't go wrong

Most of the nutrition in an apple is in the peel. When you bake apples the peel gets nice and soft. For this reason we perfer to leave the peel on.  However, it may be perferred to remove the peel. You really can’t go wrong. Try it both ways and see what you like.

The positive to leaving the peel is that prep is a little quicker.  You just need to give a good wash to your applies. Slice and chop.  We use the a apple slicing tool as we serve sliced apples commonly with our child lunches. This removes the core and produces some great even cut apples slices.

If you have a vegetable peeler, it is the 2nd easiest way to separate the peel from the apple, however if you are about efficiency you can invest in a legit apple peeler.

Lemon Prevents Browning

We use half a lemon in this reciepe, and while it does add a nice tart counter flavor to our sweet apple mixture, it also helps with preventing the apples from premature browning.  When apple sit out for a while after being cut the flesh will start to react with the surrounding air and brown just like most other fruits.
Below you can see a comparison of an apple that was cut shortly before making the apple crisp for a snack and was not coated in lemon compared to our recipe apples. 

The lemon also help give some liquid to help spread the sugar and cinnamon coating.  

 

Butter and Other Prep

Some other quick notes are to use softened butter. You can leave the 1/2 butter (normally one stick) out for about 45 min to an hour) prior to prepping the recipe.   We opted to use gluten free flour for our child allergy concern. We have been using Namaste brand and it has yet to dissappoint (we have used it for pancakes, muffins, pizza and cookies).
For the oats we used what we had on-hand, which was quick-oats.  Any oat will work. Old fashion oats may provide a slightly different texture and will still turn out amazing. You really can’t go wrong!
Bake time is 40-50 min depending on your oven. Remove when golden brown and bubbly. Let cool. Serve warm with a scoop of fresh cream or a heaping scoop of your favorite vanilla ice cream.  We made a batch of soy based vanilla ice cream  (Soy milk, sugar and vanilla extract) for our young one using our Ninja Creami.

See our ice cream recipes for some ideas.

 

Farm Fresh Apple Crisp (Dairy and Gluten Free)

Dairy and Gluten free version of a wonderful apple crisp that is absolutely amazing. Great any time of year or when your favorite apple variety is ready for pickin'.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Course Dessert
Servings 6 people

Equipment

  • 1 9x9 baking pan
  • 1 Apple Slicer - optional
  • 1 Vegetable & Fruit Peeler - optional
  • 1 Apple Peeler - optional

Ingredients
  

Apple Coating

  • 4-5 apples of your choice (we prefer Honeycrisp or Granny Smith) - see recipe above for apple variety
  • 2 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 3/4 tsp cinnamon - highly recommend Vietnamese cinnamon for its sweetness and robust flavor.
  • 1 half fresh lemon squeezed - lemon juice adds some nice favor but also prevents the chopped apples from browning

Apple Crisp Topping

  • 1 cup light brown sugar - packed into the measuring cup
  • 3/4 cup oats - any oatmeal will work. We used quick-oats. Texture may vary, but any oat will work. Our topping was extremely crispy. Even left overs heated in the microwave remained fully crispy.
  • 1/2 cup cup gluten free flour - replace with any all-purpose flour if you are not concerned with gluten or a wheat allergy.
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • pinch of kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup softened butter - Vegan butter was used in our version, but any butter will suffice if you are not worried about allergy or dietary preferences.

Instructions
 

  • Pre-heat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit
  • Wash and peel apple (peeling is optional);
  • Slice apples and then chop into bites (3-4 bites come from one apple slice)
  • Squeeze juice of half a lemon over the chopped apple (don't let the lemon seeds fall in!)
  • Add sugar and cinnamon to apples and stir until coated
  • Pour chopped apple into a 9x9 glass baking pan
  • In a separate bowl combine brown sugar, dry oats, flour (we use Namaste brand flour), cinnamon and salt.
  • Cube softened butter and add to mixture. Work with hands until all butter is dispersed through the mixture and the topping is almost dough like. (mixing butter in evenly is crucial to making sure the top crisps evenly)
  • Sprinkle the mixed topping over the apples evenly
  • Bake 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 40-50 min. Top should be golden brown and crispy!
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