Homemade Apple Crisp Recipe – Spend With Pennies

This homemade Apple Crisp recipe is a classic easy to make recipe for good reason! 

Tender cinnamon apples are topped with a buttery brown sugar crisp topping and baked until tender and golden on top. Top apple crisp with ice cream or whipped cream and serve warm.

Why We Love Apple Crisp

• Apple Crisp is an easy dessert that is perfect for any time of year, especially fall!
• This dessert is budget friendly, add extra fruit or nuts.
• It can be prepared ahead of time and baked before serving making it the perfect dessert.

Apple Crisp vs. Cobbler

My mom made crisps, cobblers, or apple betty all of the time growing up. While similar, there are a few differences between these desserts which maily is in the toppings:

• COBBLER: An apple cobbler often has a biscuit or pie dough topping. There are also variations where the biscuit base is on the bottom of the fruit layer (as we do with our peach cobbler).
• BETTY: A betty uses breadcrumbs or cubes for the topping. A betty tends to be more pudding-like as the breadcrumbs absorb the fruit juice as it bakes.
• CRISP: A crisp has a topping made up of a combination of butter, sugar, spices, nuts, and oats.

Apples For Apple Crisp

We love granny smith apples for apple crisp as they tend to hold their shape well and don’t get mushy.  The flavor is tart which goes well with the sweet topping.

If you prefer a sweeter crisp, you can use a sweeter apple, try Honeycrisp or Pink Lady or even combine a couple of types of apples!

Apples should be peeled for apple crisp as the skins don’t soften well.

Apple Crisp Topping

There is a generous amount of topping in this apple crisp because that’s my favorite part!

Butter is cut into oats, brown sugar, and a bit of flour to form coarse crumbs.  I then stir in nuts and coconut.

The topping is pretty versatile, you can add any kind of nuts (pecans or almonds are favorites) and or use all coconut if you prefer.

How to Make Apple Crisp

While we often hear the term as easy as pie, making Apple Crisp is even quicker and easier than pie!

1. Peel and slice apples. Toss with flour, sugar and cinnamon.
2. Cut butter into the topping mixture until crumbs form.
3. Place apples in a baking dish, top with the crumb mixture and bake.

Can you Freeze Apple Crisp? 

Yes! You can freeze apple crisp either before or after baking!  It will keep in a deep freezer for up to 6 months and in a top freezer for 2-3 months.

Allow the crisp to thaw first before reheating, and do so in a low temperature oven till just warm. What a great way to keep a dessert handy for busy nights or if company pops by unexpectedly.

Delicious Fruit Crisp Recipes

Homemade Apple Crisp is happiness in a pan and is sure to become a favorite in your home too!

Did you love this Apple Crisp? Be sure to leave a comment and a rating below!

Homemade Apple Crisp Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Servings 6 servings

Author Holly Nilsson

Tender juicy apples are topped with a buttery oat crumble topping for the perfect easy dessert.

Follow Spend with Pennies on Pinterest

• Preheat oven to 375°F.

• In a medium bowl combine rolled oats, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. 

• Blend butter into dry ingredients with a fork or pastry blender. Add pecans and coconut and combine well.

• In another bowl, mix the prepared apples with the sugar, cinnamon and flour. 

• Add apples to baking dish, then sprinkle with the topping mixture

• Bake for 30 minutes until golden and apples are soft.

Granny Smith apples are tart but you can use any kind of apples that hold up well to baking.
Apple crisp can be prepared ahead of time and baked before serving. If the dish is cold from the fridge, it may need extra time to bake.
The topping can be made in large batches and frozen. To prepare crisp, make a fresh fruit filling and sprinkle the topping on right from frozen. Bake as directed.

Calories: 400, Carbohydrates: 61g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 17g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Cholesterol: 30mg, Sodium: 110mg, Potassium: 227mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 44g, Vitamin A: 405IU, Vitamin C: 4.8mg, Calcium: 42mg, Iron: 1.3mg

(Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.)

Keyword apple crisp, best, homemade

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.

More Apple Recipes You’ll Love