This past weekend I had the pleasure of making apple crisp with my friend Elana Cooper. We used her family’s recipe, who used to own the Ashland Bakery and Cafe, and apples from the trees at her house. The beautiful thing about this recipe is its simplicity, and its hardiness when it comes to any kind of cooker. It doesn’t matter if the measurements are off, or if the cook feels like experimenting with different combinations of sweeteners. I will always taste good.Cooper Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

• ⅔ cup rolled oats
• ½ cup pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon, with extra to sprinkle later
• ½ cup butter
• ⅓ cup liquid sweetener (syrup, agave, honey)
• pinch of fine salt
• 6 or 7 apples
• teaspoon vanilla
• 2 teaspoons sugar

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
• Butter a large rectangular pan, most pans will work

For the topping:

• Melt the butter and liquid sweetener
• Put the oat, pastry flour, cinnamon, melted butter and sweetener in a medium bowl and mix with a fork

Apples:

• Thinly slice the apples, and sprinkle or mix in a touch of cinnamon and the vanilla, as well as the sugar
• Place the apples in the pan, about ¾ inch thick, and lay the topping on top of the apples

Bake for 50 minutes and enjoy! I recommend eating the crisp a la mode, especially with vanilla ice cream.

Check back next week for another recipe of the week!