Apple Crisp with Pecans

🍎 Ingredients & Substitutions

This recipe uses brown sugar in both the apple filling and the oat-pecan topping, so be careful to separate the amount needed for both parts of the recipe!

• Apples: Cortland or SweeTango apples work well here. Or try combining a very sweet apple like Honeycrisp with a tangy apple like Granny Smith.
  
• Lemon Juice: helps prevent the apples from turning brown. Omit if your apples are very tangy.
  
• Brown Sugar: adds a caramel-like sweetness. Substitute with white sugar.
  
• Ground Cinnamon: I used pre-ground cinnamon, but you can grate a cinnamon stick on a microplane grater if you prefer to.
  
• Ground Nutmeg: I used pre-ground nutmeg, but you can grate a whole nutmeg on a microplane grater if you prefer to. Omit if you dislike the flavour.
  
• Cornstarch: This helps to create filling texture similar to apple pie.
  
• Old-fashioned Oats: These larger flaked oats create a great crispy topping. Substitute with quick oats if you must, but it won't be the same. Avoid using steel cut oats here.
  
• All-purpose Flour: This helps hold the topping together and adds to the overall texture. Whole wheat flour should work as a substitute, but I have not tested that myself.
  
• Pecans: The nuts add flavour to the topping, but can be substituted with almonds or omitted entirely.
  
• Salt: Brings out the flavour of all of the topping ingredients. Do not omit unless you're using salted butter.
  
• Unsalted butter: I prefer to use unsalted butter so I can control the saltiness of the final dish. If you choose to substitute this with salted butter, do not add more salt to the topping.

About Those Apples...

After testing this recipe multiple times with various apples, I've concluded that the type of apple you use in this recipe dramatically impacts the final flavour and texture.

• Granny Smith apples are a classic choice for apple crisp, but they're not my favourite. While they have good flavour, they don't soften enough for my liking.
• Pink Lady apples also stay firm after baking, but they lack the tanginess of Granny Smith apples. These are my least favourite apples to use in this recipe.
• Honeycrisp apples are a good option if you want a very sweet crisp. Or, you can mix them with Granny Smith apples to create a balanced apple crisp flavour.
• Cortland apples are my current favourite apples to use in Apple Crisp. They have a sweet yet tangy flavour and soften enough during cooking to give the crisp filling an apple-pie-like texture. Corlands lose their texture as they age, so a fresh Cortland will be more crisp than an older one. Mixing Cortlands with Granny Smith apples created good flavour with interesting texture since the Cortlands cooked down and the Granny Smiths remained in firmer chunks.

Can you use quick oats for apple crisp?

You can, but it won't give you the best results.

I used to make my crisps with quick oats, but I've come to realize that old fashioned oats (a.k.a. rolled oats) are the way to go if you want a nice crunchy topping.

The reason why quick oats doesn't create a really awesome crisp topping is that the pieces are too small and too thin, so they don't lend much texture to the topping.

Whereas old fashioned oats are larger and have more surface area, which creates a satisfying thick crunchy layer of topping.

🥣 How to Make Apple Crisp with Pecans

Before you get started, give your apples a good wash.

We're keeping the skins on in this recipe (unless you don't want to), so you want to make sure they're clean before you get to chopping!

Once your apples are clean, you can remove the cores and start chopping them up.

Don't worry about making all of the pieces uniform. The smaller bits will break down into the filling and any larger pieces will add texture to the finished dish.

Make the Filling

Step 1: Add the lemon juice, sugar, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg and cornstarch to the apples.

Step 2: Stir well to coat the apples with the spice mixture.

Step 3: Once that's done, you'll pour the apple mixture into a prepared 8x8 baking dish.

Baking Dish Options

When I photographed this recipe, I used an old Le Creuset square 8" x 8" x 1.5" enamelled stoneware baking dish for this recipe. It has a volume of about 1.5 litres.

Many 8" x 8" baking dishes have a depth of 2 inches, which means the pan holds more volume. If you use an 8" x 8" x 2" square baking dish, the filling won't fill up the pan as much as mine did, which is totally fine.

I recently tested this recipe with a round pie plate that is 9.5" x 1.6", which also works well for this recipe.

Note: While greasing the pan is helpful, I have been known to skip this step once in a while. It usually comes out just fine.

Make the Oat Pecan Topping

Save yourself an extra dish to wash and make your topping in the same large bowl that you used to mix the apples.

Step 1: Combine all spices into a large bowl and combine thoroughly with mixture

Step 2: Stir in melted butter until the topping mixture looks moist.

Step 3: Spread the topping over the layer of apples in the baking pan.

Step 4: Bake at 350°F for 45-50 minutes, or until apples are cooked and juices are bubbling up the sides of the pan.

I bake my crisp in the middle of the oven, but if you find the oats are browning too quickly, you can move the crisp down to your bottom rack to finish cooking.

If you make your apple crisp topping in a food processor, you won't have to pre-chop your nuts!

🥧 How to Serve

Once the crisp is baked, let it cool slightly to allow the filling to set. Serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for the ultimate cozy treat.

This apple crisp also makes a wonderful Thanksgiving dessert. You can prepare it ahead of time, freeing up your oven for the turkey on the big day.

And don't forget about the leftovers—they're delicious the next day, too!

Enjoy leftover crisp at room temperature with Greek yogurt for breakfast, or reheat portions in the microwave and top with ice cream or whipped cream for another round of dessert (or even a special breakfast—no judgment here!).