Apple Crisp

Recipe from "A deeply appley apple crumble" from Nigel Slater's "Ripe: A Cook in the Orchard".  I made 1/2 the recipe, and served this with Humphry Slocombe's "Secret Breakfast" ice cream (bourbon and cornflake flavor) that I bought.  This was so much easier to make than a pie!  This recipe gives the apples and their sugar a really lovely caramelization by sautéing them first until the sugar becomes light brown on the stovetop before baking.

I used a mix of Macoun apples and Cox's Orange Pippin Apples.  As suggested, I tossed the apples with the juice of 1/4 a lemon.  I also used another 1/4 a lemon to rub all the cut apples sides with as I was cutting them to further help prevent browning.  Since I don't have any golden baker's sugar, I used a mix of organic cane sugar and white sugar and a tiny bit of light brown sugar in the apples and a mix of light brown sugar and a tiny bit of white sugar in the crumble.

I used the same pot to saute the apples and to bake the apple crumble in.  While the apples were sautéing, I mixed up the crumble using a pastry cutter in the same unwashed mixing bowl that I had used to mix the cut apples with lemon juice and sugar.  In order to keep the butter very cold, I stored the mixed flour, butter, and sugar mixture in the freezer until the apples were sautéed, as I would if I was making a pie crust.  Just before baking, I sprinkled 1/2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp water on the crumble, and shook the crumble mixture until uneven pebbles of various sizes stuck together (having a variety of sizes is preferable), and then baked it for 45 minutes at 350F.

Here you can see how caramelized the apples got on the bottom.