Apple Crisp and Brown Sugar-Bourbon Ice Cream

The leaves have started to turn and there is a chill in the air that signals we are deep into fall and most important—deep into honey crisp apple season!  I’ve talked about my love of honey crisp apples before, and of course couldn’t resist buying a huge bag of them when I saw them at the market the other day.

While you can’t beat a fresh honey crisp apple, I decided to see if they would work in one of my favorite desserts—apple crisp (really though, what dessert isn’t one of my favorites!).   These sweet tart apples were a perfect complement to the buttery crisp topping, and the whole thing was heavenly with some homemade brown sugar-bourbon ice cream.  I hope you are enjoying the bounties of fall as much as we are!

Apple Crisp

I cut my regular apple crisp recipe down to serve just the two of us.  Double or triple this recipe if you are serving a crowd.  Or if you are serving someone like Graham who can’t get enough of this kind of dessert – he was a little upset there wasn’t more for seconds and thirds.

• 2 small honey crisp apples, peeled and diced
• juice from half a medium-sized lemon
• juice from 1/4 of a large orange
• ¼ cup flour
• ¼ cup old fashion oats
• ¼ cup sugar
• a dash of ground cinnamon
• ¼ to ½ teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened

Mix the apples with the lemon and orange juice and put into a small baking dish. 

In a medium sized bowl, stir together the flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon and salt.  Mix in the butter (I often use my hands), until crumbly.  Sprinkle the flour and oat mixture over the apples.

Bake at 375° for 25 minutes or until topping is golden and filling is bubbly.  

Brown Sugar-Bourbon Ice Cream

I couldn’t resist the brown sugar-bourbon ice cream recipe in the October issue of Bon Appétit.  The only change I made was to add 2 tablespoons of bourbon instead of 1 tablespoon—YUM!

Tasty Easy Healthy Green Recipe Ratings:

Recipe Report Card	Notes About Recipe Ratings
Tasty Rating Four Chefs (Delicious!)	Apple crisp and homemade brown sugar-bourbon ice cream—enough said!
Easy Rating Three Easy Chairs (Average Difficulty)	Apple crisp is very easy to make, but the homemade ice cream takes a little more time and effort.
Healthy Rating One Apples (This Might Take A Year Off Your Life)	I promise we don’t eat this way all the time!  But it was my fall break, and I thought we needed something sweet for the occasion.
Green Rating Three Leaves (Average Environmental Friendliness)	Some organic ingredients, but not all.