This afternoon I made an apple crisp, and I wanted to share what’s now my favorite crisp recipe. Truth time here: I have 40 pounds of Jonagold apples in my kitchen that have been waiting to be processed since the weekend before Halloween…. Yikes. They’re holding on but are no longer suitable for fresh eating. This week I’ve promised myself I will finally peel, core, and mash them all for applesauce. I really really hope I keep this promise to myself.

In the meantime, I felt like making an apple crisp. I made one earlier this month and then an apple pie for Thanksgiving, and this afternoon, I was craving another one. I love that a crisp is basically a pie but without all the work of making homemade double pie crusts. Huzzah!

I’m certainly no crisp expert (since this is only my second time making one), but they’ve turned out well both times. I followed the America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook recipe and made a few tweaks along the way.

So here we go: my Just-Because Apple Crisp!

I made the topping first because it needs to chill for 15 minutes while I peel and core and chop the apples. After mixing up the sugar and spices and flour, I pinched it all together with the 5 tablespoons of butter. As you can see, I didn’t do the most thorough job turning the mixture into what the recipe calls “crumbly wet sand.” But I’m not going for beauty this time around, so it’ll do.

After I popped the topping into the fridge, I set to work on the apples for the filling.

Am I the only one who loves the way peels layer together in the sink? When I used to make tons of freezer meals, I would end up with a sink full of all kinds of cores, pits, peels, and pith! So lovely.

And then I sprinkled on the topping! (….and then licked off the buttery spiced goodness from my fingers before making myself wash it off like a good girl)

Forty minutes at 375 and done! A beautiful apple crisp just begging for some whipped cream.

I can’t leave without mentioning the pie plate. It’s a gorgeous red-and-cream Le Creuset pie plate that my mom gave me for Christmas several years ago. It’s gorgeous, deep-dish, and makes every pie (and now crisp!) spectacular.

When I served up this crisp after dinner (which was hot dogs by the way…. you can’t win them all), I asked the hubby what he thought of the crisp. He pronounced it better than the first one. I’ll take it!