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apple crisp with caramel sauce
Well, yesterday I had a horrible time thinking of new and innovative recipes. After deliberating for the whole morning and most of the afternoon, I finally decided on a caramel sauce I had been wanting to try. I thought how nice and simple that would be—apple slices and caramel. And it will take only ten minutes!
It did not take ten minutes. My first batch burned, and I had to send my husband out to buy more cream. Then I wasn’t happy with the photography. I was very stressed out and pathetically dramatic. (Now my kids’ teachers will know how close to the tree the apple lands around this house.)
When I could see that a new post for yesterday was impossible, late last night I made some apple crisp to pair up with some ice cream and the improved batch of caramel sauce. I hope you like it.
apple crisp
For the apple part:
6-7 seven small Granny Smith Apples, peeled and cut into chunks
1/4 cup (55g) granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
For the crisp:
1 cup (150g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (70g) almond flour (or 1/2 cup slivered almonds chopped up in a food processor)
1/4 cup (55g) brown sugar
3/4 cup (165g) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons, or 170g) cold, unsalted butter, cut in pieces
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (180 degrees Celsius).
2. In a large bowl, combine apple chunks, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, lemon zest and lemon juice. Place in a medium sized casserole dish.
3. In a separate large bowl, whisk all ingredients besides butter. Add in butter, and using your fingers, break up until mixture is well combined, and clumps together. Form into a ball, and crumble over the fruit.
4. Place on a cookie sheet to catch drips, and bake for one hour, or until a knife inserted to the bottom of the dish meets little resistance. (In other words, the apples should be soft and cooked through.) Serve with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce (recipe follows).
caramel sauce
Please read all these directions a couple times before starting, and get all your ingredients set out before hand. Kick all other family members out of the kitchen, and best of luck. Caramel is very simple, but it requires good timing. Remember, I burned my first batch, so you might want extra cream on hand in case that happens. Experience is the best teacher for this. Give yourself plenty of time, and don’t be discouraged if it isn’t perfect at first. Once I got the hang of it, I made an extra batch which came out as well as the one before it.
3/4 cup heavy cream (make sure it is heavy cream, or heavy whipping cream, not regular whipping cream)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup (220g) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (65g) water
1 teaspoon butter
1. Measure out cream into a liquid measuring cup. Stir in vanilla and set aside within an easy reach of the stove.
2. Stir sugar and water in a medium pot with tall sides. Set over medium-high heat. As the sugar dissolves and begins to boil, you may swirl the pot to mix the boiling sugar water. DO NOT STIR WITH A SPOON. This will make the sugar crystalize.
3. As the sugar syrup boils, watch very carefully for the color to change. You are looking for a nice, warm amber color, about the shade of cinnamon sticks. Don’t let it get any darker. (Even if it doesn’t look burnt, it can taste burnt. If it starts to smoke, you’ve let it go too far.) On a side note, my candy thermometer did not reach far enough into the pot to get an accurate reading of the syrup, but with such a small amount of syrup, the temperature changes pretty quickly anyway. It’s best to watch it and wait for it to turn the right color.
4. As soon as it turns the proper amber color, pull the pot off the heat. Whisk in the butter, and then pour in the vanilla-cream mixture. It will now bubble violently. Whisk carefully but briskly. The caramel will start to solidify a bit., but keep whisking. Put the pot of caramel over low heat and whisk carefully for a minute or two until smooth. Pour into a heat proof jar, and allow to cool. Can be refrigerated for up to a week (Well, I think. Mine never lasts that long.)
28 Responses to “apple crisp with caramel sauce”
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Apple crisps are so perfect for fall! Thanks for sharing, and it makes me feel better to know that I am not the only one who doesn’t have things go right in the kitchen!
I stumbled upon your blog from some other blog I was reading. Not sure which one.
)
Thanks for posting this. I recently moved to Europe and have been craving “American” fall food. Especially apple crisp. I am going to follow your yummy recipe later this week. And if all turns out great I’m going to make it for my American expat group. (Ohh and thanks for posting in grams and C it helps me a lot
What a tasty looking dessert…perfect for them coming season!
You don’t have to perfect anything for us! Your photography skills can make anything look good! That looks absolutely delish!!!! Thanks!
Oh this is beautiful. You made me hungry!
Do you eat all your samples and mistakes or do you have a group of guinnea pigs?
My pants are already too tight!
I feel like they get tighter just reading your posts!
Thanks for this- I enjoyed it!
I was oddly touched by your statement – “I hope you like it”. It felt very real and honest to me.
Incidentally, if you have any extra ice cream, I’m willing to take it off your hands. I’m just sayin’…..
Gorgeous! I’ll be trying this recipe soon. I have a bunch of apples left from last weekend’s trip to the orchard. I made an apple crisp pudding and posted that with ice cream too, but this caramel sauce would have been icing on the cake
Another beautiful-looking recipe Jaime, and that final photo of the caramel sauce dripping off the apple slice is just divine ! I don’t know if I have the patience to make that sauce, but I will certainly enjoy the photo nonetheless !
Great work !
this dessert is absolutely drool-worthy! apple desserts–whether cobbler, crisp, pie, brown betty, etc–are my favorite, and lacing them with caramel sauce and topping them with vanilla ice cream puts them over the top. bravo!
I can’t wait to try out your recipe’s, i’ve friends coming over for dinner soon.
This looks amazing! Growing up, one of my all-time favorite desserts was apple crisp with vanilla bean ice cream. Now I’m going to have to make it with the caramel sauce – the more sticky sweet stuff, the better!
I LOVE apple crisp! The weather is starting to get colder which makes them all the more enjoyable.
Like it? I had to stop myself from licking the computer screen. My mouth is salivating right now from the hint of tartness in the apples. Ooooh, I wish I lived next door to you!
I wish you lived next door, too! Thank you, Julie!
We went up the Mt.Hood loop on Monday and I came home with THREE boxes!! Yes about 40 lbs! of apples. I’ve made pie and LOTS AND LOTS of applesauce! (did you know that eating an apple before meals is a hunger supprescent – not just because you’re full!) I will be so happy to make something else before they start going bad!
Thanks again Jaime for your blog. You make me feel a bit pathetic in the kitchen with all your wonderful inventions but I am happy to follow your footsteps – bedtime is upon our little Washington house!
Lori
Innovative or not, your posts are always a joy to read and gawk at . This is going to be perfect for apple season.
Would this taste the same if I substituted pears instead of apples? my dad is allergic to apples…
[...] Who doesn’t love apple crisp? This one comes with caramel sauce! [...]
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Why is my sugar water not turning amber?
I followed the instructions, I used a rubber spatula and swirled and swirled. Help!!
Katie—sorry, but I just read this comment! Did it turn amber for you ever??
Nope never. I tried it a second time. I used a bigger pot and a wooden spoon, surprise it turned to a whole lot of sugar, still no amber.
That is so weird, Katie. The only other thing I can think of is that maybe your heat wasn’t high enough.
Recipe looks delicious. I’ll try it soon. I love caramel also but not chocolate. Could you please add a print-friendly link with and without pictures for your recipes? Thanks and keep the recipes coming.
Stan–Thank you. Just above the picture, to the right of the title of the blog post, there should be a little icon of a printer. If you click on that, you will get a printer-friendly version of the post.