Recipe #36: apple crisp/crumble/Betty

It’s fall! It’s apple season! Finally!

This is a basic apple crisp/crumble recipe that apparently was also once referred to as Apple Betty, which doesn’t sound quite right in 2024. I originally found it here:


Which was found in this vintage 1980s cookbook that came for free with the very first microwave oven my parents ever owned:


That was back in the early days of microwave ovens, when they were promoted as a conventional oven replacement, and this book has recipes for full course microwave cooking, including « roast » chicken. 

If you are interested , here is the original microwave version recipe for today’s dish, with my mother’s annotations and approval (hence the check mark):


I don’t think I’m breaking any copyright laws printing this recipe, but just in case, please don’t tell Quasar. Or Betty.

Anyway, we’re going to go off script, as usual.

Ingredients:


Directions:

We’re going to have to peel some apples. Do you have an apple peeler?


This handy device is a zillion years old, and slightly broken, purchased at Honest Ed’s on Bloor Street in Toronto, probably in the early 1990s. It’s probably older than you, dear reader! Can you still buy them? I’m going to say probably?


Naturally you can also peel your apples by hand.

How many apples? 4? 5? 6? Enough so when chopped up, they fill a Pyrex type container like this:


Now in a separate large bowl mix about a cup of oats and about half to 3/4 cup of packed brown sugar:


About a cup of chopped raw walnuts, about a tablespoon of ground cinnamon, and as much freshly grated nutmeg as you feel like freshly grating (probably less than a teaspoon):


Btw, if you don’t like or want walnuts, or can’t because of an allergy, just don’t, and instead add a cup of flour of your choice. It will be different but still good. Less Betty, more crisp I think?

Add about half a stick of finely chopped unsalted butter (it’s easier to finely chop if still frozen):


Mix it all up real good with your (clean) hands and massage that frozen butter into everything:


Sprinkle this mixture over your apple pieces in the Pyrex:


And pop the Pyrex (uncovered, to answer my mother’s question in the cookbook handwritten margin notes) into a preheated oven at 350-375F for, oh, about 40-45 minutes? It’s an art not a science:


Every oven is different and mine is convection (and clearly in need of a good cleaning) and I don’t know how many apples you used and how finely or chunkily you cut them so keep an eye and nose on things. When it smells great and looks like this it’s done:


Serve in adorable bowls with French vanilla ice cream and enjoy the autumnal vibes!

Thanks Quasar! Thanks Betty!



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