Apple crispApple crisp with a scoop of vanilla ice cream
Apple crisp in the United States or Apple crumble as it is known in the United Kingdom is a dessert consisting of baked apples topped with a crispy crust. Ingredients usually include cooked apples, butter, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and often oats and brown sugar, ginger, and/or nutmeg. Many different kinds of fruit can substituted for apples, such as peaches, berries, pears, etc. One of the most common variants is 'apple rhubarb crisp/crumble', in which the rhubarb provides a tart contrast to the apples. It is an easy to make and tasty alternative to apple pie and apple cobbler.
Apple crisp evolved in the United States out of other apple dishes such as apple pudding, apple cobbler and apple pie. However, apple crisp is a relatively new invention. It is notably absent from the first edition of the Fannie Farmer Cookbook (1896), which is a comprehensive collection of American recipes. The earliest reference to apple crisp in print occurs in 1924, with a recipe in the Everybody's Cook Book: A Comprehensive Manual of Home Cookery, Isabel Ely Lord [Harcout Brace and Company: New York] 1924 (p. 239). In the same year, it also makes an appearance in a newspaper article in the Appleton Post Crescent on Tuesday, December 9, 1924 (Appleton,Wisconsin). Despite its relatively recent invention, apple crisp or crumble has become an American and British tradition especially during the fall season or Autumn when apples are plentiful. The dish is also very popular in Canada, especially in areas where berries and fruit are readily available. It even graces the menus of discerning restaurants in the aforementioned countries.
There are a number of desserts that employ apples with sweet toppings.
Apple cobbler (also known as apple slump, apple grunt, and apple pandowdy) is an old recipe in which the baked apples are topped with a biscuit-like (drop scone-like) batter made with flour, milk, butter, and leavening agents. The topping is dropped onto the top of the apples in clumps, which have a 'cobbled' appearance, thus the name.
Apple crumble is a British variant of apple crisp that originated during World War II food rationing. The topping is also made of butter, flour, oats, etc, but it is smoother and resembles breadcrumbs. Care must be taken to balance the correct amount of crumble with the fruit, else the filling may seep through and spoil this crust. Crumble is traditionally served with custard or, nowadays ice cream.
External linksWikibooks Cookbook has an article on Apple crisp
- Food Timeline history Notes: Apple Pie
- Apple Crisp Recipe from About.com
- Apple Crisp Recipe from Joy of Baking