Easy Apple Crisp Recipe from Grandma - These Old Cookbooks (2024)

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Explore this recipe for our Grandma’s easy apple crisp. These tips will help you make the best apple crisp you’ve ever had.

We are sharing a simple recipe for traditional apple crisp without oats and a melt-in-your-mouth topping that screams cinnamon and butter. Your family will be begging for you to make this over and over again.

Easy Apple Crisp Recipe from Grandma - These Old Cookbooks (2)

Table of Contents

Apple Crisp Without Oats Recipe

How do you make apple crisp from scratch?

Follow these simple instructions below, and soon your house will be smelling like fall.

Arrange peeled, sliced apples in a baking dish. Combine water and ground cinnamon, and pour over apples in the baking dish. Work together butter, sugar and flour until crumbly. Sprinkle over the sliced apples. Bake in preheated oven until the top is golden brown. The full instructions for old fashioned apple crisp recipe can be found below.

We are in love with this recipe. Barbara found it in Grandma’s Old Wooden Recipe Box (her most prized possession). It really is a unique recipe because it’s apple crisp with no oats and no brown sugar. Instead, the topping is a combination of flour, white sugar, and butter (or margarine). The cinnamon goodness is poured right over the sliced apples in the pan before the topping goes on.

Our Grandma was a phenomenal cook, baker, Grandma, Mom, friend, woman.And, making and eating this recipe reminds us feel the way we felt when we spent time with her.

Grandma also had another easy apple cobbler type dessert in her recipe box. If you like yours with an oat topping, try our Old-Fashioned Apple Crumble recipe.

Old Fashioned Apple Crisp Recipe Ingredients:

  • Apples, peeled and sliced
  • Water
  • Ground Cinnamon
  • Flour
  • Butter (or margarine)
  • Sugar
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Howdo you make apple crisp from scratch

Step By Step Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray an 8-inch square pan with nonstick cooking spray.
  2. Peel and slice apples in a bowl.
  3. Arrange apples in a baking dish; combine water and ground cinnamon and pour over top the apples in the dish.
  4. Work together butter, flour and sugar until a pea-sized crumbs forms using two forks, a pastry blender or even your clean hands.
  5. Sprinkle crumb topping over apples.
  6. Bake for approximately 35-40 minutes or until golden brown crisp topping on top.

Full recipe for homemade apple crisp without brown sugar is at the bottom of this page.

Recipe FAQs

  • You can use a metal 9 x 9 or 8 x 8 inch pan or go old fashioned and use a 1 1/2 or 2 quart Pyrex or Corning Ware dish. Any of those will work. Just watch the cooking time. This delicious apple crisp will cook faster in a larger pan because it’s spread thinner.
  • Grandma says margarine can be used instead of butter.
  • To make the crumbly topping for this old fashioned apple crisp, use two forks, a pastry blender or even your clean hands. Work it until it resembles course crumbs.
  • Love apple crisps without oats? Try this Minnesota Apple Crisp recipe.
  • This recipe inspired us to make a divine cherry version. Try it! A peach version would be good too. Here is a Blueberry Brown Betty recipe that’s similar to a blueberry crisp.
  • Should you should peel your apples first before making this crisp? Not necessarily. If you are in a hurry, then you could leave the peels on; however, this does change the texture of the crisp. If you have time, go ahead and peel them.
  • Grandma would say to use whatever apples you have on hand for this easy apple crisp recipe. We agree!
  • Try serving it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
  • Check out our Amazon Store for our favorite pantry and kitchen items.
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Try Other Fruit Desserts

Love fruit cobblers, crisps and cakes? Here’s some more of our favorite old fashioned fruit desserts.

Easy Cherry Crisp

Crock Pot Peach Cobbler

Grandma’s Rhubarb Streusel Dessert

Peach Batter Cake

Grandma’s Rhubarb Pie

Our Favorite Apple Recipes

We love cooking with apples…especially baking with this versatile fruit. Here are some of our favorite apple recipes:

  • Old-Fashioned Apple Slab Pie
  • Minnesota Apple Crisp
  • Caramel Apple Crisp Bars
  • Cinnamon Stewed Apples
  • Red Hot Cinnamon Apples

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Print Recipe

5 from 4 votes

Grandma’s Easy Apple Crisp

Grandma's Easy Apple Crisp recipe is a traditional, old fashioned apple crisp without oats. The melt-in-your-mouth topping screams cinnamon and butter and will have your family begging for more.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time50 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: apple crisp without oats, Easy Apple Crisp, grandma’s easy apple crisp

Servings: 8

Calories: 239kcal

Author: Barbara

Ingredients

  • 4 cups peeled and sliced apples
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 9 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

  • Arrange peeled and sliced apples in the bottom of the prepared baking dish.

  • Combine water and cinnamon, and pour over apple slices.

  • Work together flour, sugar and butter until it becomes crumbly.

  • Sprinkle mixture over apples.

  • Bake until golden brown, approximately 35-40 minutes.

Notes

  • You can use a metal 9 x 9 or 8 x 8 inch pan or go old fashioned and use a 1 1/2 or 2 quart Pyrex or Corning Ware dish. Any of those will work. Just watch the cooking time. This delicious apple crisp will cook faster in a larger pan because it’s spread thinner.
  • Grandma says margarine can be used instead of butter.
  • To make the crumbly topping for this old fashioned apple crisp, use two forks, a pastry blender or even your clean hands. Work it until it resembles course crumbs.
  • This recipe inspired us to make a divine cherry version. Try it! A peach version would be good too.
  • Should you should peel your apples first before making this crisp? Not necessarily. If you are in a hurry, then you could leave the peels on; however, this does change the texture of the crisp. If you have time, go ahead and peel them.
  • Grandma would say to use whatever apples you have on hand for this easy apple crisp recipe. We agree!
  • Carb counts, calorie counts and nutritional information can vary greatly depending on products used. The information below is auto-calculated and should not be used for specific dietary needs.

Nutrition

Calories: 239kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 21mg | Sodium: 340mg | Potassium: 100mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 279IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 41mg | Iron: 1mg

Easy Apple Crisp Recipe from Grandma - These Old Cookbooks (15)

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Easy Apple Crisp Recipe from Grandma - These Old Cookbooks (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between apple crumble and apple crisp? ›

Like an apple crisp, an apple crumble is a baked fruit dessert with a layer of topping. But unlike the crisp, the crumble topping rarely includes oats or nuts. Instead, a crumble's topping is more like streusel, made with flour, sugar and butter.

What are the best apples for making apple crisp? ›

What Makes A Good Apple For Apple Crisp? The best apples for baking keep their structure under heat, which prevents the chunks of fruit from turning into mush after baking. The firm and crisp Granny Smith and Honeycrisp varieties are popular apples to use in apple pies and apple crisps.

What is the difference between apple Betty and apple crisp? ›

Both are very similar apple desserts, but the difference mainly comes down to the crumble topping: Instead of the flour and oat mixture used in an apple crisp, an apple brown betty uses breadcrumbs for its crumbly, delicious topping.

How do you make Martha Stewart apple crumble? ›

In a large bowl, toss together apples, granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon salt; transfer to prepared dish. In a bowl with an electric mixer, beat butter with brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in 1 cup flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt until large pieces form. Scatter over filling.

Why is my apple crumble topping not crunchy? ›

The main reason your crumble topping isn't crunchy is probably because you haven't used Demerara sugar. Although, it could also be that you've got your topping ingredient quantities wrong: either too much or not enough flour and butter alongside the sugar.

Why is it called Brown Betty? ›

This has led some historians to believe that Betty was the name of the cook and creator of the recipe and that brown was in reference to her skin color.

How many apples is 3 cups? ›

1 pound of apples will make about 3 cups sliced or cubed. 4 tennis ball-sized apples weigh about a pound.

What is the sweetest and most crisp apple? ›

Fuji: Fuji is the sweetest apple variety that Stemilt grows. Each crisp bite will remind you of the sweet taste of apple juice due to its naturally high sugar levels! Fuji apples are ideal for fresh applications like snacking, juicing, or freezing.

How many apples is 4 cups? ›

Generally speaking, one pound of roughly chopped apples yields four cups.

How do you know when an apple crisp is done? ›

Bake the apple crisp until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden brown and crisp, about 45 minutes. Serve the crisps warm with vanilla bean ice cream or fresh whipped cream, if desired.

Why is it called a buckle cake? ›

A buckle is a funny name for an old fashioned fruit studded coffee cake. Like many other desserts in the extended cobbler family buckles take their name from their appearance—grunts grunt as they cook, slumps slump when served, buckles—you guessed it—buckle.

What is a buckle dessert? ›

A charmingly old-fashioned dessert that deserves a comeback, a buckle is a single-layer cake with berries or cut-up fruit in the batter, giving it a "buckled," or indented, appearance.

What is the secret to crunchy crumble? ›

However, we also love adding porridge oats for extra chewiness, as in these recipes for very-berry oat crumble and American-style apple crisp. Chopped and toasted nuts such as pecans, almonds or hazelnuts also make a lovely addition to a traditional crumble, for taste as well as an extra-crunchy texture.

How do you make Aunt Bessie apple crumble mix? ›

Cooking Guidelines
  1. Place fruit / filling into an ovenproof dish (if using fresh fruit, also add the water and sugar).
  2. Sprinkle the crumble mix over the fruit / filling and rake with a fork to even out any lumps and level the top.
  3. Bake in a pre-heated oven for 30-40 mins until the crumble is golden brown.

Why add lemon juice to apple crumble? ›

This is known as oxidation and occurs when the cells within the fruit are exposed to air. Lemon juice helps with this, acting to coat the flesh and protecting it. It also adds extra flavour to your apple crumble recipe and offsets the sweetness of the sugar.

What is the difference between crumble and crisp? ›

So what's a crumble vs. a crisp? A crumble is just a crisp without oats in the streusel. It may feature nuts, but the streusel topping is usually a simple combination of butter, flour, and sugar that is more clumpy than that of a crisp.

What is the difference between a crumble and a crisp and a cobbler? ›

Cobbler: A fruit dessert made with a top crust of pie dough or biscuit dough but no bottom crust. Crisp/crumble: In Alberta, the terms are mostly interchangeable. Both refer to fruit desserts similar to cobbler but made with a brown sugar streusel topping sometimes containing old-fashioned rolled oats.

Is apple crisp and apple pie the same thing? ›

A traditional apple pie features a buttery, flaky crust encasing the apple filling. Apple crisps, on the other hand, have a crunchy, crumbly coating on top (and nothing on the bottom). Check out our recommendations for the best apples to use in apple pie.

What's the difference between crumble and streusel? ›

Traditionally, the two have different ratios of the same ingredients, with streusel containing more flour, and crumb topping more sugar, so they offer a different texture and flavor on top of baked goods. Streusel may also include nuts, but crumb topping does not.

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