We’re having Friendsgiving!
Let me paint you a picture of what’s currently going on as I write this:
Our living room is quite the motley arrangement of chairs and sofas, ranging from kitchen table wooden chairs to a sofa that looks straight out of the 1800s. There are four people each desperately attacking their own giant bowl of potatoes with a fork in an attempt to make mashed potatoes because we have no masher and 20 pounds of potatoes. This is not an overstatement: One of my roommates is not to be trusted with a Kroger card. The only decoration we could find is a roll of toilet paper and some coloured straws because we live in a frat house. Welcome to adulthood.
The best part of Thanksgiving is the food, so I decided to take on a dessert because I reasoned that I would be least likely to mess that up. And what says “fall” more than apples and caramel? Nothing, because I live my life in accordance to stereotypes. So I made a salted caramel apple crisp, as the pilgrims intended.
I believe gooey caramel sauce and crisp apples were separated from each other at birth. Plus, there’s nothing better than warm apple crisp with a massive scoop of vanilla ice cream on top—and it’s easy! So easy I could make it in my decrepit excuse for a laundry room-slash-kitchen (did I mention the frat house?). Diiiiive in.
SALTED CARAMEL APPLE CRISP
For the Filling
- 15 apples, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
- 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp. lemon juice
- 3 tbsp. all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- FOR SALTED CARAMEL SAUCE: 1 cup caramel topping (or you can make your own if you’re feelin frisky), 1 tbsp. sea salt (adjust accordingly)
For the Topping
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup oats
- 2 sticks (16 tbsp.) butter
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- about 1 tbsp. extra butter for dotting
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Make the crumb topping: combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl, then cut in the 2 sticks of butter until the mixture resembles coarse ground. Set aside.
- In a large pot, melt your 2 tbsp. butter. Add in the peeled and cubed apples, then toss gently with remaining ingredients (except the salted caramel). Cook on low for about five minutes until it starts to bubble and your kitchen smells wonderfully aromatic. Like a Yankee Candle store, but better.
- In a smaller pan, heat the caramel sauce and add in the salt. Cook on low for about 8-10 minutes, or until the sauce gets thinner. Add the whole thing to the apple mixture, stirring well.
- Pour the apple mixture into a 12″ pan with high sides, making sure the sauce is spread evenly. Dot with the extra butter. Crumble the topping evenly over the whole thing, making sure you don’t leave any gaps. Bake for about 35-45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the filling starts to bubble through.
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