I hope you all had a magical Thanksgiving full of good food and major amounts of pie to put a smile on your face. Sorry I have been so busy lately traveling that blogging has been difficult.
My Thanksgiving was lovely and full of laughter. We had roasted turkey, green bean casserole, blueberry brie cheese over Italian crackers, sour cream mashed potato, and an incredible sweet potato casserole with an oatmeal pecan brown sugar streusel. Three days later, I’m still not sick of leftovers.
I wish I would have snapped photos of how beautiful everything turned out, but I was too busy running around the kitchen and enjoying time spent with good people. However, I have to admit that I tried to make some of the dishes healthy because I knew that I had to have dessert; which on Thanksgiving is actually more like my main meal. This year’s included a ridiculous chocolate ganache pie with a toasted marshmallow topping and this stupidly good apple crisp served warm and topped with vanilla bean ice cream.
I was in a food coma for a good 36 hours.
Obviously worth it.
A couple of months ago Joanna of A Cup of Jo asked me if I would create a recipe for her basic food series. Of course, I said yes!
At first I wasn’t sure which recipe I would share, but since I’ve been making the best apple crisp for years, I knew that this was truly sensational It’s also one of my most requested recipes and for some reason, men can’t seem to get enough of it. Have I mentioned that baking for men is totally romantic? You must try it out.
This recipe always makes me fall in love with the simplicity of apple crisp all over again. I love when that happens.
Brown butter, vanilla bean, bourbon, and an incredible oat crisp in this recipe will knock your socks off. There’s also a bit of almonds in the topping, but you can use pecans or omit completely – it’s up to you.
Oh yes I did put bourbon in this crisp, because baking with bourbon is just freaking awesome. Go ahead, try the recipe and you’ll taste the difference. PROMISE.
I truly can’t seem to put into words how fantastic this apple crisp is though. Everyone always asks me for this recipe, and I’m sure they’ll ask you, too! It’s best served warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
The Best Apple Crisp You'll Ever Have
Ingredients
- For the topping:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- ½ cup chopped almonds
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened and cut into pieces
- For the filling:
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
- 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
- 6 medium-sized Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and very thinly sliced
- 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tbsp. bourbon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease an 8x8 baking pan.
- To make the topping: Combine the flour, oats, brown sugar and almonds in a large bowl until well-combined. Add in the pieces of butter and use your hands to squeeze and combine until the mixture becomes crumbly and resembles wet sand. (Alternatively, you can cut in the butter with a pastry cutter, or place all of the topping ingredients in a food processor and pulse until just blended. My favorite method is to use my hands, as I believe you get the best crumbly topping that way.)
- Once finished, place topping in the fridge and begin making the apple filling.
- To make the filling: Place butter and seeds from the vanilla bean in a medium saucepan, and turn heat on medium. After a couple of minutes the butter will begin to crackle and foam—make sure you whisk consistently during this process! Another minute or two, and you will notice the butter turning a slight brown (caramel) color on the bottom of the saucepan; continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to give off a nutty aroma. Immediately transfer the butter to a bowl to prevent it from burning. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
- While the butter is cooling, place apples, 1/3 cup brown sugar, cinnamon and bourbon in a large bowl and toss to combine. Add the brown butter to this apple mixture and toss again to combine.
- Take a heaping ½ cup of the topping mixture and toss with the apple mixture. Place the apple mixture in prepared pan and sprinkle evenly with topping. It may seem like a lot of topping, but the apples will cook down and the topping will provide an excellent crunchy exterior.
- Bake the crisp on a baking sheet (just in case the filling bubbles over!) for 55-60 minutes, or until topping is golden brown and filling is bubbling. Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes on wire rack. Serve warm with vanilla bean ice cream.
I grew up on apple crisp and always thought I made a good one. This recipe far exceeded anything I have ever made. I did use McIntosh apples because it’s what I had on hand. Other than the apples I followed the recipe. Do yourself a favor and make! It’s absolutely delicious!!!
Amazing! So glad you loved it!
Dear Monique,
I ALWAYS prepare someone else’s recipe as written and ONLY if needed…I then adjust it the next time around. So I followed your recipe as written…note that I make my own homemade vanilla extract with vanilla beans and cognac (recipe courtesy of Camille Glen)…so I used a TBSP of that since I was out of bourbon (my rowdy friends drank it all). All I can say is…the house began to permeate the most intense and wonderful apple vanilla essence I have encountered and other people were drawn to it too! Anyway…I was slightly concerned that the ratio of cinnamon and sugar wasn’t gonna be enough…but i was mistaken – it was absolutely on point and tasted awesome! This is indeed the best Apple Crisp I have ever made or eaten anywhere! Thank you for sharing your recipe.
BDC
Amazing! That homemade vanilla sounds delicious, too. So glad you loved this one!
Fabulous! 2 whole sticks of butter (one browned) to only 6 apples, plus bourbon and pecans(in place of almonds). How can you go wrong? Try with vanilla gelato.
Right?! SO happy you’re a fan of this recipe, Lynne.
I have made this several times. My husband loves it. Have you ever done this in a pie crust?
This is the best apple crisp I’ve ever eaten and everyone I feed this to makes the same comment! A fellow at work said this was better than his Mom’s…does a compliment get any better than that.
I also toast the nuts and oats slightly to add a little more depth to the flavor.
SO GOOD!! ☺
WOW! So glad to hear that, Barb!! Great call on the toasted nuts 🙂
Today if someone asks me what you saw best then I would like to say that I saw your post best today and it is a very beautifully written post which I appreciate. And I also think that if you see someone’s post and it is beautiful and well written, that should be appreciated.
This was SO delicious. Made with Bramley apples, raisins, Spelt/almond flour and used the Magimix to slice the apples. Oh! What a gorgeous smell and the perfect end to our Sunday roast supper. A wonderful warming February treat and the toddlers gobbled it up! Thank you 🙂
Perfect! So glad it was a hit!
Made this for thanksgiving dessert this year and it was a huge hit! The brown butter and bourbon added delicious flavor and the crunchy sugar oat topping was INCREDIBLE!
So happy to hear that!
This was fantastic! Loved the addition of bourbon (I used a scotch/whiskey blend I had) to this crisp. Super easy too!
Perfect! Best fall dessert 🙂
I found this Apple Crisp to be much too sweet. The sweetness overpowered the brown butter and vanilla. If I made it again, I would only use 1/3 of the sugar.
Everyone’s taste preferences for sweet treats are pretty different – let me know how it goes reducing the sugar a bit 🙂
This has been my go to recipe for years. Every time I bring it somewhere I get a request for the recipe. It is truly the Best Apple Crisp Ever.
Amazing! So happy to hear that 🙂
Just sharing that this is my go to crisp recipe! That time of year has arrived again and so I have made 3 batches and have shared with 3 different groups. EVERY group asked for the recipe and said unsolicited that it was the “best crisp ever!” I used almond flour and Makers Mark bourbon. Delish! Of course I shared your recipe with them. Love your site. Thank you!
Absolutely amazing! The flavour and texture is delicious and it’s really hard to stop eating it. I didn’t have Bourbon so `i used Rum. i also used GF all purpose flour and toasted my pecans! Yummy! Even my GF friends could tell the difference with the amazing flavour and texture happening!
Delicious! So glad those swaps worked out well 🙂
Excellent recipe! I made this with 2 1/2 lbs. of honeycrisp apples – I could have added a little more, knowing what I know now. I made it in a 9 X 13 pan and baked it for 45 minutes and it was perfect.
Also: I subbed toasted pecans for the almonds; and I subbed lemon juice, lemon zest, and orange zest for the bourbon because I have family members who feel strongly about alcohol in things.
Perfect! So glad you enjoyed!
I made this today but with a few variations. I used pecans, about 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 3 tablespoons heavy cream in the apple mixture. It was absolutely divine! Definitely making this for thanksgiving!
Great! Hope everyone loves it at Thanksgiving 🙂
This recipe lives up to the name – came out as good as I’ve had at any restaurant, which has been my goal to make, and I’ve tried a bunch of different recipes. I did make a few minor changes – added some cinnamon and allspice to the topping (so it would have a little pizzazz) and a little nutmeg to the filling. I did not use the nuts as this is just my preference for Apple Crisp, and put in a little extra bourbon. It took a good bit longer in my oven to get to the bubbling stage, probably about 30 minutes, so might up the temperature to 375 next time around.
So glad you found this recipe! It’s my absolute go-to.
I have made this crisp several times and since I use apples from my tree I make several and freeze them uncooked. The frozen ones have turned out very well. Apples are a bit softer but the crumble is devine. Wondering if you can use the apple mixture in a pie?
Excited to try this recipe! Wondering how long you would recommend cooking if I double the recipe in a 9×13 Pyrex?
Any recommendations for how I could make this gluten free?
You can use gluten-free flour or oat flour!
How many servings does this make?
About 6-8!
I too may have to use a 9×13 pan, will I need to amend the baking time at all? Thanks!
It will probably require less time, so I would check on it at around 40 minutes!
I just made this and I may eat the whole thing! (Hubby’s still at work and would never know.) I used steel-cut oats, pure vanilla extract, and rum instead of bourbon and it still came out great. And my house smells like FALL! Truly scrumptious recipe–thanks for sharing!
Here’s my rating–five stars, of course!
Delicious! The fall smell is one of the BEST parts of baking 🙂 glad you enjoyed!
I made this a few weeks ago and it was amazing. It’s only me and my fiance, but the leftovers were great for dessert (and breakfast…) throughout the week! I skipped the vanilla bean and added a dash of vanilla extract to the brown butter instead to save my grocery budget, and it was still delicious! I also replaced the bourbon with vanilla. So good!
Perfect! So glad you both enjoyed 🙂
Has anyone made this and froze it uncooked for later. Have many apples.
I’m using homegrown apples so could you please state the CUP measurement for the apples rather than saying six medium Granny Smiths. Would 7 cups be about right? Could vanilla be substituted for the vanilla bean seeds and how much? Thank you.
7 cups should be about right! And then you can use about 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract in place of the vanilla bean seeds.
Do you think you could use coconut sugar instead of brown sugar?
This crisp looks delicious!
Absolutely!
Wondering what liquors (bourbon,etc) ARE actually gluten-free
& which I could use here?? We are celiac in this house sighhh.
Gluten- free oats & GF vanilla plus Earth Balance spread I’m already considering…
this sounds so yummy.
I have been looking for a recipe to mimic my mother-in-laws apple amaretto crisp for the hubby’s bday (she wont give up the recipe. LOL). This looks really similar. Do you think I can sub the bourbon for amaretto? Also, if I can t find vanilla bean can I use liquid vanilla?
So excited to try this! If i double the recipe in a larger pan will it impact cooking time??
Can you make this two days ahead of time do you think? Would you put it in the refrigerator after baking and then reheat it the day of?
how many does it serve? It sounds amazing!!!!
I love this apple crisp but want to make it for a family trip where there are 35 people eating! Can I double the recipe and make in 9×13 pan? Have you even done this, and what would the difference be in cooking? Thanks!
My all time favorite. Great recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Simon
This is without a doubt THE best apple crisp recipe out there. I’ve made it several times, and each time it receives rave reviews. The flavors blend so well, can’t go wrong with butter + bourbon. [and it tastes delicious without it too!] Thanks for producing a staple recipe in my home for years to come!
Hi Monique! Is there any way to make this crisp ahead of time without ruining the quality of the dish? I want to make it for Turkey day. 🙂 Thanks!
This is absolutely the best apple crisp I have ever made. The browned butter and the bourbon add that little extra richness to it. I added vanilla paste instead of vanilla bean and pecans instead of almonds and it turned out great with caramelized apples and the crunchy topping. Yum. There’s no way this recipe had too much butter in it as stated by another person making a comment. I would say that you can put as much or as little topping on it, according to your taste. Thank you so much for a great recipe!
Delicious recipe….but way too much butter!!! Could get away with using half a stick for the topping, half for the filling and would be more than enough. Thanks for sharing.
I made this the other day and it went down so well! I loved the crumble and the browned butter just added that extra nice touch of nuttiness 🙂 Definitely a recipe keeper! http://aroundleglobe.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/great-apple-crumblecrisp.html
This sounds amazing! I have Rome apples, would they work here? Every recipe I have made from your site has been fantastic, I’m excited to add this to my list!!
Hi Monique can I use King Arthur’s white whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour? Will it affect the taste? Also, if I replace vanilla extract for bourbon will it affect the flavor significantly?
No that should be just fine! And vanilla is no problem although I probably wouldn’t use that much.