Now, the debate continues between desserts falling in the crisp, crumble or cobbler category. In my mind, a crisp has an oat based topping over a lot of fruit, a crumble has more flour based topping over fruit, and a cobbler is more biscuit-like or pastry topping that is mixed within the fruit.   Whatever you call it…I call it divine and “yes, I’ll have another”. I tend to like the crunchy oat-type topping desserts. But I will NEVER turn down a cobbler either.

Now, you should know that crisps and cobblers are s a weakness of mine and are a dessert that I will never share….again. I learned a valuable lesson when many moons ago, I decided to share an amazing peach cobbler with homemade ice cream with my husband. It turned into an ugly war of spoons in the middle of a restaraunt between my husband and I, ending in: (1) this amazing dessert being devoured in 0.2 seconds, (2) neither of us really knowing what the dessert actually tasted like because we were too concerned that the other person was getting MORE TOPPING!!! and the LAST BITE OF ICE CREAM EVEN THOUGH IT WAS SEGREGATED ONTO MY SIDE OF THE BOWL (I’m not bitter…well, maybe a little), and (3) Kiley teaching me a valuable lesson that you should NEVER SHARE THY COBBLER WITH A TOPPING AND ICE CREAM STEALER (eh hem…him, not me).

Anyways, since one of my best friends is getting married at the end of October, several of my oldest college girl friends got together this weekend for a bachelorette party – old school slumber party-style. To top the night off (along with plenty of candy, pizza, wine, and margaritas), I made an apple crisp, which we all dove head first into with a massive tub of vanilla ice cream. And no…i did not share my piece.

Note: This is an easy to put together dessert and you can use just about any fruit (berries, peaches, cherries, plums, rhubarb…I can go on…don’t tempt me).

Apple Crisp (serves 6)

Filling

• 6 to 8 medium crisp tart apples, sliced (no need to remove peel)
• 3 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• dash of nutmeg
• 3 Tbsp of brown sugar

Topping

• 1 1/4 cup of rolled oats (not quick cooking)
• 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour (or all purpose)
• 1/3 cup of brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 Tbsp butter

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375F and place rack in the center of the oven. Spray with a cooking spray, an 8 x 8 inch baking dish.
2. Prepare topping by placing all of the topping ingredients (flour, spices, butter, oats) in a bowl or food processor. Mix until the mixture is crumbly (looks like coarse meal) and there are no large pieces of butter visible.  If you are not using a food processor, you can use two knives or your fingertips.  Set aside until you finish making the filling.
3. For the filling, place the apple chunks in a large bowl. Toss with the lemon juice, cinnamon, and sugar. Transfer to the baking dish.  Spread the topping evenly over the apples.
4. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until the topping is brown and the filling is bubbly. mmmmm.
5. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes.
6. Keep guard for any cobbler thieves. Get the ice cream out and DIG IN!