Fall is definitely my favorite season – that’s when the sky starts turning white (as my daughter calls it) and I just long to be in the kitchen baking. I got hooked on this recipe from Bon Appetit because of the caramel filling. Be careful not to over-cook the caramel, or your filling will be bitter. If you cook it until it jut starts turning golden, it will be delicious. Also, it is best to use an assortment of apples in this recipe instead of just one type. If you like more texture in your topping, add some oatmeal – although for this recipe I prefer the simple topping below.
Ingredients
Topping:
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 10 tablespoons sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, diced
Filling:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, diced
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 mixture of Golden Delicious, Gala, Fuji apples (about 2 3/4 pounds), peeled, quartered, cored
- Lightly sweetened whipped cream
Preparation
For topping:
Whisk first 6 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until small moist clumps form. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.
For filling:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Stir sugar and butter in large skillet over medium heat until smooth sauce forms. Add lemon juice and cook, stirring, until caramel is deep brown, about 5 minutes. Mix in salt, then apples. Toss until apples are evenly coated, about 1 minute. Scrape apples and caramel into 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish; spread evenly. Sprinkle topping evenly over.
Bake crisp until apples are tender, sauce is bubbling thickly, and topping is golden, about 50 minutes. Let crisp cool 15 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream.
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First Look, Then Cook 
Dear Dawn, This sounds like a winner because it reminds me of Tarte Tatin -(upside down caramelized apple tart). I have made Tarte Tatin with pears and it is even better than the apple -sooo I’m thinking I will make this recipe with Pears. Bonnie
I tried this and when we added the lemon juice to the caramel mixture it exploded- little pieces flew into the air and burned me! Yikes! What did I do wrong? Also- the caramel was really runny- is it supposed to be this way? I kept adding more sugar to the mixture to try to get the consistency right- but then it just had globby parts and runny parts! Clearly I’m not a gourmet cook! I’m sure in the end it will all taste delicious- it’s in the oven right now. I’ll report back after we eat it!
:) Happy Eating!
Megan, I am thinking that the temperature was too high when you were cooking the caramel. This is probably why it exploded when you added the lemon juice, and why it was not smooth. I am anxious to here how it tasted – I have a feeling that the moisture from the apples will make it turn out fine once you put it in the oven. I’m sorry it burned you!!
Dear Dawn, I made this crisp using pears as I said and it was delicious. I especially liked how the topping stayed crispy even on the second day when we were eating the leftovers with vanilla ice cream.