New England Apple Crisp

New England is synonymous with apples. Johnny Appleseed was born in Leominster, Massachusetts, and from late August through November there’s a working orchard within a half hour of just about anywhere in the region.

This New England apple crisp is my favorite dessert. Most recipes I’ve run across lean heavy on flour, which gives you a cakey, softer topping. I wanted the opposite. The version below uses more oats and more brown sugar so the top bakes up genuinely crisp. If you want to push it further, drizzle a little real New England maple syrup over the topping before it goes in the oven — not the high-fructose pancake stuff, the real thing.

Prep time: 10 minutes. Cook time: 30–35 minutes. Serves 8.

Ingredients

• 4–6 apples (a firm variety)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white flour
• 2/3 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup cold butter (one stick); salted is my preference, unsalted is fine
• Real maple syrup (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Lightly grease a glass baking dish with cooking spray, or rub it down with butter if you prefer.
3. Peel the apples, then run them through an apple slicer. Lay the slices in the dish in an even layer.
4. In a mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix until well blended. A KitchenAid does this in about thirty seconds.
5. Cube the cold butter. Cold matters here — you want the butter to stay in distinct chunks through the dry mix, not melt into a paste.
6. Slowly work the butter cubes into the dry ingredients, again the KitchenAid earns its keep, until you see an even distribution of butter bits throughout.
7. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the apple slices. Don’t stir it in. You’re topping the apples, not coating them.
8. Optional: lightly drizzle maple syrup over the topping. A little goes a long way.
9. Bake in the middle of the oven for 30 to 35 minutes.
10. Remove and let it set for 15 to 20 minutes.
11. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. My own preference is to chill it for a few hours and eat it cold the next day, but it’s good both ways.

This one shows up at our house every fall, usually the weekend after the first real apple-picking trip. It keeps in the fridge for a few days, which is how I prefer it anyway.

Frequently Asked Questions

What apples work best for New England apple crisp? Firm varieties hold up under heat without turning to mush. Cortland, Honeycrisp, and McIntosh are all grown in New England and work well here — Cortland especially, because it doesn’t brown as fast once you peel it.

Why use more oats and less flour in the topping? Flour-heavy toppings bake up soft and cakey. If you want a genuinely crisp top — the kind that cracks when you press a spoon into it — you need more oats and more brown sugar, less flour. That’s the whole point of this version.

Does the maple syrup drizzle make a big difference? It’s optional, but it does two things: it adds a faint maple note that reads as distinctly New England, and it helps the top caramelize a little more. Use real maple syrup — the grade doesn’t matter much, but the high-fructose pancake stuff will just make it cloying.