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The Most Delicious Apple Crisp (plus a secret ingredient)!!

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Well, it does have apples.
So, ya…it’s healthy.  But, really, when the house smells as heavenly as it does when you have an apple crisp in the oven, does it really matter?  I mean, wow, does my house ever smell good!  And that smell just does crazy things to my logic…like, for sure it’s a healthy dessert.
So what if there’s lots of butter.
And, brown sugar.
And, dulce de leche.
Yup, that right…this is “over the top” apple crisp.You don’t have to make it this way (I will show you below, as we go through the instructions, what the basic recipe is – which isn’t SO bad – and then I will tell you what to add to make it crazy good)Ingredients:
Apples (lots and lots…you want to pile them high so I would say about 20 apples or around 10-12 cups)
3/4 c jam or jelly (either grape, apple, peach) or about 1/3 c brown sugar
1 c flour
1 c brown sugar
1 c assorted cookies (no crazy flavours…not even chocolate)* see notes below
1/2 – 1 c butter * see notes below
1/4 c dulce de leche – optional * See notes below
lots of vanilla ice cream – optional…but not really!

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1.  Take your apples and quarter them.  I had close to 30 apples but they were from my tree and they were quite small so you want about 10 cups of sliced apples (enough to pile into a 9×13″ baking dish).  The quantity isn’t hugely important but you want enough to balance the crisp topping.

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I use my “turning” knife (used to “turn” potatoes…fancy culinary term meaning to make into tiny oval shapes) but you can use a paring knife..whatever is comfortable.

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2.  Start by taking out the core from top to bottom (being careful to remove enough of the core not to have that hard part in there – I hate getting that in my crisp – but not too much to take away too much flesh).

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3.  Turn it over and remove the peel.

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4.  Cut each quarter into 4’s (or whatever you like that will be bite sized)

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This is what they look like quartered and…

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…this is what they look like sliced.  Don’t worry that they discolor (it isn’t pretty for the camera but they will brown in the oven so it’s really doesn’t matter).

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If you are peeling and have left over apple (because you planted way too many trees in your backyard), put the slices in a freezer bag and save them for a quick crisp you can make another time.

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5.  Now, use whatever jam or jelly you have on hand and melt it in the microwave.  I used some leftover grape jelly that I made last year (I put too much pectin in it and it doesn’t spread very well on toast…but melted, it is perfect here!)  Pour it over the sliced apples and mix together to incorporate the jam/jelly.

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I, also, usually have some apple jelly in my fridge to use when I glaze a ham (hey, I could make me some of that with my apples!!) .  That would work here too!

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6.  The butter should be cold and cubed.  If you are trying to be healthy, you can bring it down to 1/2 c (but it will not be as crispy)…if you want decadence (totally my style), you can move up to almost a cup.  Set the butter aside once it is cubed.

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7.  In a food processor, add the flour and brown sugar and pulse to mix.

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8.  Now for more decadence…add about 1 c of assorted cookies (I used vanilla oreos and some amaretti cookies).  You can use social tea cookies, nilla wafers…really anything that is in your pantry that nobody in your family is eating anymore (no chocolate please).  If you would rather not use cookies (or don’t have any) just substitute 1 c oatmeal…works just as good and gives it a nutty flavour.  Pulse until it is a fine crumb.

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9.  Now add the butter and pulse again.  Keep pulsing until you get a coarse crumb.

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A trick here is to shake the food processor while it is on to get the butter to mix better (if you leave it on the counter, it tends to get stuck under the blades and you have to keep stopping it to scrape it down).  My food processor is 23 years old (a wedding present that is still going strong!) so it is light.  If yours is heavy, you might have to stop and scrape.

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This is what it should look like…kinda like a loose cookie dough.  It will seem really buttery but this is what gives it that rich flavour.

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10.  Now, again, totally optional but this is part of the over-the-topness of this dessert.  You have some options here:  a)  you can use the dulce de leche (bought this jar at Costco after I finished my homemade dulce de leche) b) you can use a good quality caramel sauce  c) you can use a Cadbury caramel chocolate bar, cut into squares and tucked into the apple layer (ya, I know…these are the things that keep me awake at night) or d) you can leave this out altogether.
But leaving it out isn’t very “over-the-top” now is it?

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11.  Dollop the caramel randomly over the apples and then start to sprinkle the crumble over the apple/caramel layer.

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It should look like this .

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12.  Bake it until it’s brown (about 40-50 minutes).  If your apples are juicy, it will bubble around the edges.  You will know it’s ready when the top is brown and the house smells glorious!
This is when you should put your house up for sale…for sure you would have a buyer in minutes 🙂

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You can plate it all fancy shmancy (actually, that “swipe” of dulce de leche does not look very appealing, does it?)….

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…but a bowlful of apple crisp with a dollop of ice cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon for effect….
It don’t get better than this….