Ridiculous Apple Crisp
I was not an Apple Crisp Believer until I ate this recipe. The topping can be mushy or dry (not to mention the apples)... and also, Get your oats away from my dessert! The topping on this one is actually crisp. Sort of like a chocolate chip cookie, only without the chocolate... If that sounds weird, I mean it in the best possible way. If it sounds good, it's better than you can even imagine.
This version, which I have tweaked from Tartine (I Know, I know: Who the hell am I, to tweak a Tartine recipe?? but all good things I swear!) has more apples than the original, a dash of cardamom, a little more salt, and... another key: it's baked in an iron skillet. The apples on the bottom caramelize in a way that they wouldn't in a glass baking dish.
So yeah, Tartine, my version is better!
(Sorry no picture, but it was devoured before I got a chance to snap one)...
Ingredients
4 1/2 lbs assorted apples
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
Zest of one lemon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup cold unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups (5 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottom of a large iron skillet. Peel, core and slice the apples, and place in the bowl of your mixer. Add sugar, lemon juice, zest and salt, and toss together well with your hands. Transfer the apples to the prepared skillet, and push apples down to create an even layer.
To make the topping, place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a mixer. Fit the mixer with a whisk attachment, beat together on medium until smooth. Add the flour, cinnamon, cardamom and salt and mix just until the mixture comes together in a smooth dough.
To top the crisp, roll balls of the dough, then flatten them to 1/4 inch, and lay them on top of the apples. Cover the entire surface of the apples with dough rounds. Gaps in the topping are okay-- the dough rounds spread even more, like chocolate chip cookies.
Bake the crisp until the topping is golden brown (and your house smells freaking awesome), about 1 ½ hours. Let cool but serve warm (stick in a 350 oven for about 10 minutes), with a gigantic scoop of high quality vanilla ice cream.
