Apple Crisp

There is a recipe for apple crisp written by Marjorie on one of my mother’s signature strawberry recipe cards in her big green recipe notebook, but it’s not the apple crisp I remember mom making. So I’m taking a liberty and including a recipe that is more similar to the one I remember eating all fall and winter long each year. We always used to make this to celebrate the first day of autumn and often to use up some of the many apples we’d buy each year on Catoctin Mountain.

INGREDIENTS 5 cups sliced peeled apples 1 T sugar ½ c regular rolled oats ½ c packed brown sugar ¼ c plus 1 T flour ½ t salt 1 t ground cinnamon ½ t allspice ¼ c butter plus 1 T melted butter ¼ c chopped nuts vanilla ice cream (not optional)

DIRECTIONS Preheat oven to 375°F. Place fruit in a 2-quart square baking dish. Stir in the granulated sugar, 1 T flour and 1 T melted butter.

For topping, in a medium bowl stir together oats, brown sugar, flour and spices. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the nuts. Sprinkle topping over fruit.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until apples are tender and bubbling and topping is golden. Completely perfect with vanilla ice cream.