Apple Pie Crisp From Scratch
One of my husband’s favorite kinds of pie is apple. Several years ago, while at a farmer’s market, he found a good deal on apples. He ended up coming home with 6 bushels of apples. That’s a lot of apples, by the way! So, we ate all that we could eat, but in the end, something had to be done with all those apples. I think he secretly planned this all along. I decided apple sauce (a great frugal snack) and apple pie filling. I had plenty of canning jars and plenty of little helpers so we set to work. Now, these are our 2 favorite items to make in the fall and enjoy all winter.
Start with the crust.
- 3 cups of all purpose flour
- 1 egg
- 4 Tablespoons of water
- 1 1/2 cups of butter (softened)
- 1 teaspoon of salt
Combine the dry ingredients. Beat the egg and add in with the wet. Mix well. Roll out with a rolling pin or (like me) just use you hands. Put in a pie plate. Fill with filling and bake.
** This recipe makes 2 crusts, so I keep several of these in the freezer so I can always have apple pie (or any kind of pie for that matter) available! Life is just better with pie!
Then comes the filling.
- 1/2 cup of water
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of lemon
- 1 Tablespoon of butter
Bring to a boil. In a separate pot mix 1/4 cup of corn starch and 1/2 cup of water. Mix well and add to the filling. Add 1/2 cups of Karo syrup and 2 cups of raw sliced apple. Add cinnamon and brown sugar to your liking. To can: multiply the recipe and put in jars while hot. Water bath for 15-20 minutes.
I like to make a big batch of this and can it. If you haven’t home canned before, its really not as scary as it sounds! With a few supplies and a little practice, the possibilities are limitless! This apple pie filling recipe came to me from one of my dearest friends, who happens to be Mennonite, and taught it to me many years ago. Home canning has truly become one of my favorite things to do, in part thanks to her, my Mom, and Grandmothers, who took the time to share their knowledge with me from an early age.
Now for the topping.
You can top with another pie crust and bake at 350 degrees like normal people, but who wants to be normal, right?…OR you can make an apple pie crisp! This is one of the things I sort of created by accident and it ended up being a family favorite. During one of those ‘hard times”, we only had enough ingredients for one crust so I ended up throwing some stuff together and calling it a “crisp”. It turned out really well, and now that is how we prefer to eat our apple pie. You can mix ups a topping or when in a hurry, I use my homemade granola as a topping. Both are very similar and are approved by my apple loving family!
- 2 cups of quick oats
- 1/2 stick of butter (softened)
- 1/3 cup of brown sugar
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts
- 1/4 cup coconut
- 1/4 cup of flour
- pinch of salt
Mix together. Pour over pie filling. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
ENJOY! Hopefully with ice cream!
