Maple Apple Crisp with Maple Walnut Topping

My apples are holding up well in the garage. As you can see they are wrinkling slightly, but they are still good for cooking and have lots of flavor. I love to make crisps; they are a lighter dessert with lots of fruit and I cut way back on the sugar, hardly using any. I believe if you have good, ripe fruit you don’t need to add a lot of sugar; just let the fruit shine. My crumb toppings use very little butter and I always add old fashioned oats. When we were in Vermont they had Indian sugar, so of course I had to buy some and experiment! Its maple sugar and I have found it at local farmers markets that also sell maple syrup.

Maple Apple Crisp with  Maple Walnut Topping

Apples, peeled, cored and sliced

1 teaspoon maple extract

2 Tablespoons maple syrup (preferably Grade B)

½ cup whole wheat flour

2 Tablespoon cold butter

1 Tablespoon ground flax seed

¼ cup Indian sugar*

½ cup old fashioned oats

½ cup broken walnuts

Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 375°.

Place enough apples to fill an 8” x 8” baking dish. Toss apples with maple extract and maple syrup. I like Grade B maple syrup; it is dark and has a robust maple flavor.

In a medium mixing bowl cut butter into flour until crumbly. Add ground flax, Indian sugar, oats and broken walnuts; mix well. Spread evenly over apples. Spray the top with cooking spray, holding the spray directly over it. If you spray at an angle the crumbs will fly all over the counter.

Bake in a hot oven for 30-40 minutes or until the top is browned and the apples are bubbling.

My husband likes his warm with a scoop of ice cream, I like mine warm and unadorned, maybe with a piece of cheese on the side.

*Indian sugar or maple sugar

Posted in Apples | 2 Comments »

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