A brief history of the apple crisp from America’s Hartland Plus a Quick Dessert Recipe

Depending on which part of the globe you are, it is either an apple crisp, as the US folks call it, or an apple crumble, as the folks in the UK call it. The two have minor differences, but it’s negligent enough to be called the same. For something that has been around for a while, it does not have a documented history as such linking it to war or famed people. It instead finds mentions in cookbooks from the 1800s and 1900s where apples were transformed into a peak comfort dish. It is definitely not one of those dessert recipes prepared without oven.

The History

The earliest mention of apple crisp appears in the 1924 cookbook, Everybody’s Cook Book: A Comprehensive Manual of Home Cookery, by Isabel Ely Lord. During the same year, an American newspaper called the Appleton Post Crescent carried a recipe for the same on 9 December 1924. It was not as elaborate as the recipe below, but given Word War II was happening, and everything was being rationed, apple crisp was popular. Apple pies were a bit expensive to make during that time so, apple crisp with its simpler elements and process surged in popularity. The ingredients needed were less than that of an average tart or pie. These days apple crisp or crumble are baked in autumn when apples are ripe for the picking.

Although the two terms are used interchangeably, there is a distinction between apple crisp and apple crumble and the difference is in the topping itself. The topping for the crisps contains oats, the oats turning crispy after baking is what gives this apple dessert its name. As for the apple crumble, the topping is a trio of butter, flour, and sugar, which goes by the name streusel. The butter mixes with these ingredients to form a coarse crumbly structure hence the name crumble. When compared to pies apple crisp does fall under quick dessert recipes.

Apple Crisp Recipe

Ingredients

For the topping:

• 100 gm all-purpose flour
• 100 gm rolled oats
• 100 gm light brown sugar
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp salt
• 115 gm unsalted butter (cold, cubed)

For the filling:

• 7 to 8 fresh sweet apples (cored and peeled)
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice (from about 1 medium lemon)
• 35 gm all-purpose flour
• 100 gm granulated sugar
• 80 gm packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp fine salt
• (all of the spices below are in powder form)
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ginger
• ⅛ tsp allspice
• ⅛ tsp cloves
• ⅛ tsp nutmeg

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C and while it heats, grease a 9x13-inch pan and grease it with butter and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine the fry ingredients of oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Now, cut the butter using a pastry cutter and mix with the dry ingredients until there is no dry powder left behind. Pop this in the fridge to chill for a bit while you prepare the filling.

3. Wash the apples thoroughly, then peel and core them. Slice the apples into thickness of half an inch each, you could also do a quarter of an inch if you want less chunky apples.

4. Place these apples in a bowl and pour lemon juice on them, mixing carefully to coat each piece.

5. In another bowl, a small one, mix all the spices, flour, sugar and salt. Depending on the freshness and intensity of the spice please adjust the quantity. Mix well and sprinkle this over the apples. Mix to evenly coat the spice mix on the apples.

6. Plonk the apple mix into the greased pan and add the crumbly topping over them evenly.

7. Pop the apples into the preheating oven and bake for 30 minutes. The apples should be golden brown and soft when pierced. Let the apple crisp cool before serving it. Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream goes very well with this dessert.

Tips

• Make sure you only use ripe or overripe apples to get the best of their flavor. You can use green apples or Granny Smith apples too for a tart flavor.
• During the slicing of the apple process, if you are anxious about the potential sogginess of the apples, mix 2 parts water and 1 part cornstarch to the apples to avoid this.
• Add nuts to the mix to make your crisp even more delicious. Walnuts, almonds and pecan nuts’ flavors go very well with the apple and gluten in the crisp.