Apple Crisp

Out of the Cold Apple Crisp

From: The Fannie Farmer Cookbook
(Approximately 100)

1 ½ bushel cooking apples – Spys -Peeled, cored and sliced

Topping:

13 ½ cups all-purpose flour
18 cups packed brown sugar
9 cups butter (4 ½ pounds)
12 tbsp cinnamon
6 tbsp nutmeg
3 tbsp salt

Base:

Thickly butter 9 deep baking pans, each about 18” x 13”x 3”. Fill each buttered pan with sliced apples to about ¾ full. Add 1 cup of water to each pan. Cover each pan of apples with 1 ½ batches of topping.

Topping: 1 and ½ batches for each pan.

Each batch of topping:

1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, cut into pieces
4 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp nutmeg
Generous pinch salt

For each batch, put the about ingredients into the food processor and process until the mix has come together well into one large mass.

Remove and spread over most of the apples in one pan: make another batch and use half of it to complete the topping on the partly covered pan.

Continue making batches of topping and covering the pans.Bake the pans at 350 0F for about an hour, until the topping has melted and started to caramelize a bit. I

If it is crumbly and dry, it hasn’t cooked long enough or you might have forgotten to add water. The water turns syrupy, bubbles up and cooks with the topping to help make it candy-like on top.

Watch pans carefully; they shouldn’t scorch. The apples should be soft and thoroughly cooked – if they are still sticking out in pieces through the topping, they haven’t cooked enough. The finished desert will sink a lot – to about 2/3 its starting height – but it will be good.