Braeburns & fujis & honeycrisps oh my
A couple Sundays ago, the weather was an absolute gift for late October in the Northeast: 70's & sunny. Perfect for apple picking! So we took a lovely drive up to Pennings Orchard in Warwick, NY. The foliage was poppin and although it's near the end of apple picking season, the trees offered lots of granny smith, red delicious, golden delicious, rome, fuji, braeburn and honeycrisp apples, ripe for the picking. Pennings also has a great farmers market with homemade cider donuts and all kinds of yummy baked goods, not to mention pumpkin patches, and a fantastic pub/restaurant. Before the drive back we were lucky enough to catch an incredible sunset over the orchard. And when we got home, we baked an apple crumble with the day's take. I have a recipe I've relied on before, but wanted to tweak it a bit. The inclusion of Frangelico added a nice nuttiness to the apples. Recommend!
Nutty Apple Crumble
- 2 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
- 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter,
- cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- Nonstick vegetable oil-spray
- 2-3 pounds apples (we used braeburns, fujis and romes) peeled, halved, cored, each half cut into 6 slices (or 8, if it's a big apple)
- 4 tablespoons Frangelico
- 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- Vanilla ice cream (Don't skimp: If you can't see threads of vanilla bean, it's not worthy :)
Mix oats, 1 cup brown sugar, and flour in bowl. Add butter, rub with fingertips until topping comes together in moist clumps. (You can make the topping 1 day ahead to save time. Just cover and chill). Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish with nonstick spray. Mix apples, Frangelico, cinnamon, and 1/2 cup brown sugar in bowl. Add apple mixture to dish. Sprinkle topping over. Bake crumble until topping is brown and crisp and the apples are bubbly and tender (about 55 minutes). Let it cool a few minutes, then spoon into bowls and serve with ice cream.
