Simple Peanut Butter Apple Crisp

This has been a very difficult year.  I had many plans to be creative and productive, but dramatic things happened and prevented all of that.  Never mind.  It is nearly a new year and I am going to turn everything around.

I haven’t been in the kitchen in… a longer time than I care to admit, so I am reintroducing it to myself gently.  Peanut butter apple crisp is perfect in the autumn and winter, with its tart sweetness and generous helpings of nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice.  It is simple to make.  The measurements are not terribly important, so I go wild with the spices.  I used to make this so often that I memorised the recipe.  It had been a while since the last time though, so I had to write to my mother and ask for help.  This is a rustic dessert, and doesn’t require fancy presentation, so it is easy to whip up late at night, which is exactly what I did.

The ingredients are: granny smith apples, lemon (for the juice), peanut butter (I love to use chunky), rolled oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, butter, brown sugar, flour and water.

Arrange the peeled and sliced apples to cover the bottom of a buttered baking dish.  Sprinkle with water and lemon juice.

Combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, peanut butter and melted butter in a bowl.  I like to add some spices to the topping too, but that isn’t in the original recipe.  The mixture should be mealy and a little clumpy.  Mine looks smoother than usual because the oats were not whole.  I use my hands for this!

Spread the spices on the apples, then the topping on top of that.  I would also normally have more topping than this, but we are running low on supplies here the day after Christmas.

Bake at 375 F/190 C for 30-40 minutes.  I used this time to work on my oh-so-snuggly sock wool blanket.

Remember when I said presentation isn’t necessary with this recipe?  I meant it!  This is comfort food, and I think comfort food should feel approachable.  I don’t want to worry about knocking over towers of apples in the middle of a plate.  I just want to eat it… and eat it…. and eat it.