For more mouthwatering, old fashioned apple recipes, head on over to my posts for Apple Crumble Flatbread, Apple Cinnamon Pancakes, and Apple Oatmeal Cookies.
Here’s Why This Recipe Works
The best fall dessert — Apple crisp is one of the things I look forward to most about this time of year. Yes, it’s true, you can make and eat apple crisp any time whether or not you are wearing cozy sweaters and boots. Maybe I’m just a strange duck but I honest-to-goodness think some foods just taste better at different times or in different places, even if it is the exact same food — like this easy apple crisp recipe with oats and melted butter. So super easy — This is my very favorite, best ever, super easy apple crisp recipe. You don’t have to add any liquid to the dish like some recipes will have you do, simply coat the apples in a cinnamon-sugar mixture and let them bake to tender, caramelized perfection beneath a thick layer of crumbly cinnamon and brown sugar oat topping. Perfect company dessert — Okay I said this was good for fall, but it’s also great for unexpected (or expected) company in the fall. Nothing says welcome to my house like an ooey-gooey, just-out-of-the oven apple crisp. Top with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce and everyone will be in fall dessert heaven. Just like mom used to make — Nothing fancy here, just the delicious apple crisp recipe of your youth. Apples covered in cinnamon and sugar and topped with a buttery, flaky, chewy oat topping that you will want to eat again and again and again. Go ahead and make up a big batch of this easy apple crisp and turn the nostalgia up to 11.
Ingredients
Apples — What kind of apples do you love or have on hand? Use those. I always peel, core, and thinly slice mine first though for best results. Brown sugar — I use dark brown sugar, that’s best for caramelizing the sauce that mixes in with the apples to make them oh so melt-in-your-mouth delicious as well as adding to the buttery, oat topping. Sugar — Regular, refined white sugar is needed to sweeten the apples and further caramelize. Cinnamon — You can’t have that cinnamon-sugar flavor on this dessert without one of the main apple crisp ingredients! Any brand of cinnamon is fine. Flour — Used in the topping, white, all-purpose flour helps bind together the rest of ingredients when mixed in with the butter and baked. Old fashioned oats — To give this old fashioned apple crisp a slightly chewy texture, add old fashioned oats. Cold butter — Use cold butter so that it helps to keep the topping together and cooks a bit slower. If you used melted butter, the apples would become soupy. Coarse sea salt — Totally optional, but adds a depth of flavor you never knew this old fashioned apple crisp was missing. Vanilla ice cream — Again, optional but who doesn’t love cold vanilla ice cream over the top of a warm, easy apple crisp recipe? So very good when it starts to melt over the top!
Here’s How You Make It
Expert Tips & Tricks
For the ultimate experience, I highly recommend sprinkling just a little bit of coarse sea salt over the top and serving with vanilla ice cream. Spoon some of that extra sauce at the bottom of the pan over the top of ice cream and you will have one of the best fall desserts ever. Truthfully, this old fashioned apple crisp is best right out of the oven but it reheats well the next day too. After a couple of days though, it starts to get mushy. This apple crisp is also delicious for breakfast — warm or cold.
