Brown Sugar Apple Crisp

We pretty much annihialated this upon removal from the oven, so there is no pic with the topping!

My husband has a large family, 5 siblings who are all married, making fourteen of us in all not counting the little ones.  So when we have a family dinner, it is cooking for a crowd.  One dessert that is always a crowd-pleaser is apple crisp.  It turns out that in addition to being a crowd pleaser it is also quite easy to make, a total plus for you and I.  The twist on my recipe is that I use both brown sugar and white sugar to give it a dark, caramelized flavor.  Mind you, this recipe is for a crowd, so be sure to scale it down to size as needed.  And as always, this is more of a method than a recipe, so feel free to add, subtract or divide as you like!

Brown Sugar Apple Crisp
5 lbs. apples (I usually use Fuji or Gala)

1/2 stick butter

1 1/2cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tb. cinnamon

1/2 ts. salt

Topping 

1 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. white sugar

1 stick of butter, cold and cubed

pinch of salt
  1 ts. cinnamon

Peel, core and slice apples in 1/8th inch slices.  In a large pot, add all of the other ingredients and heat until the butter is melted through.  Add the apples and cook over medium-low heat until the apples are tender but not completely soft, about 25 minutes.  While the apples are cooking, mix together the topping ingredients by cutting the butter into the dry mixture like you would for biscuits .  After the apples have reached the desired texture, transfer them to a buttered or sprayed baking dish and crumble the topping over it.  Bake on 350 for another 20 minutes, or until the topping is brown and golden.  Then get a bowl, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and make sure you have enough company over to eat the rest.

For someone who is enjoying being able to say the words "I lost 65 pounds!" this sure seems like a whole lotta butter and sugar, no? Yes, but think of it this way:  12 tablespoons of butter among around 20 people is a little over a half a tablespoon each, and three cups of sugar divided into the group is.....like, a really small number.  :)  Also, depending on your apples, you may need to add more sugar so taste as you go.  Different batches of apples will have different sweetness.  But as long as you follow the last step of the recipe and share the wealth, you can have apple crisp and your health. (<----you just got rhymed on.)

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