It’s a warm apple crisp kinda day…

Today has been a classic New England November day.  Raw cold, damp with a consistent drizzling rain,  bare trees stripped of leaves outlined against a gloomy, grey sky.  The end of daylight savings last weekend creates a mental gloom that will hang on until after the winter solstice, when each day thereafter will bring a bit more daylight into our hemisphere.

Cold weather survival mode kicks in and we are ready for it.  Our wood pile is heftier this year after we ran short last winter from the prolonged bitter cold.  It’s always anyones guess how much extra, beyond the usual amount, will be needed for those of us who burn wood for heat during the long New England winter months.

Long sleeved shirts and warm sweaters are stacked on the closet shelves and boots, hats, gloves and heavy coats are waiting in the mud room.  Ahhhhhhh…New England.  All the extremes of the four seasons in a glorious year.  Mountains, lakes, deep valleys and ocean.  So much is alive here in this far north eastern utopia.  So much available, season to season.  If the area calls you, draws you…live in it. But know you will need well honed survival skills.

Like warm apple crisp.  On a day like this, the smell of baking apples and the warmth flowing from the oven, make the gloomy day outside bearable.  Apples, cinnamon and nutmeg with a flour, almond meal and butter crumble topping is about as humbly affluent as you can get.  Add vanilla ice cream, or a drizzle of heavy cream, and your palatable wealth will multiply magnificently.

So, today I have a Cassoulet in the slow cooker, bread dough rising and apple crisp in the oven.  And…NO.  I’m not always this organized and on top of things.  But it sure is nice to know that for today…if just for today…I am.  And I don’t have to think about the outside tasks still waiting to be done…I’m going to stay inside where it’s warm, and deeply inhale the aroma of soul satisfying food cooking.  As I type this, it is snowing.  Light, intermittent flakes of snow.  Welcome New England November.

Apple Crisp

Peel, core and slice or dice 6 cups of apples.  I use Cortland or Empire…they bake down well under the crumb topping.  Use what you like for apples…no rules here.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the prepared apples with 2 TB of light brown sugar, about 2 teas of ground cinnamon and 1/2 teas of ground nutmeg and 2 TB of flour.   Let the apple and dry ingredients sit on the counter while you mix the crumb topping.

In a mixing bowl, mix together 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of almond meal, 1/4 cup of light brown sugar and 1/2 cup of diced cold butter. Add a dash of salt and blend until the butter and dry ingredients form pea sized chunks.  Drizzle a small amount of grape seed or canola oil into the mixture until it starts to bind together (drizzle slowly and do not add too much…perhaps a TB or so).  Do not over mix…you want this to be crumbly.

Place the apple mixture in a baking dish that is deep enough to hold the apples and still have room for the crumb topping.  Drizzle 2 TB of water over the top of the apple mixture.  Top the apple mixture with the crumb topping and bake in a 350 degree oven for about an hour or until the apples start bubbling up around the outer edges of the dish and the crumb topping is light brown.

Let this magnificent dessert cool until warm or room temperature, your preference, and serve in bowls with vanilla ice cream or heavy cream and a big spoon.  Enjoy every little bit…and feel free to lick the bowl.  My grandchildren do…in this house its considered a compliment !!!

Many Blessings…