What do you do when you find yourself with too many apples on your hands? Here is an easy and fun way to freeze extra apples so you have warm homemade Apple Crisp anytime you want.
Too many apples!
Recently I was shopping at the local grocery store and they had an irresistible sale on apples. I think I paid $1.49 for a 3 lb. bag of local organic Jonathon apples! I couldn’t resist, and honestly, I wish I had bought more of them. After a week or two, I figured I’d better cook them up or freeze then, and so this recipe was born.
Can you freeze apples?
Technically apples can be frozen. If you find yourself with too many apples freezing them is a great solution. My preference is to prepare them in a recipe such as this one before freezing so that when its time to use them I simply pull them from the freezer and pop it in the oven. This will keep in a deep freezer for up to six months and in a top freezer for 2-3 months.
Cooking the filling.
I started this recipe by peeling and dicing the apples. I prefer a diced apple in my apple crisp. It just fits better on my fork, and it seems to hold more gooey flavoring too. I precooked the apple filling on the stovetop before assembling the crisps. This way, when its time to pull from the freezer and cook, they will be done in a jiffy.
Making the oatmeal topping.
What is the difference between a crisp and a crumble? A crisp usually contains oats and a crumble is more of a streusel topping. This topping is a nod to a soft oatmeal cookie. Brown sugar, cinnamon, oats, egg, and baking soda give it a cookie-like texture. Combine that with the warm bubbly apple filling and it’s like a cookie and a pie fell in love and made the perfect baby. Oatmeal Cookie Apple Crisp.
My favorite containers for freezer meals.
Since I have a small family I prefer my freezer meals to be sized for 4 servings. I have found the Dollar Tree disposable meal containers are the perfect size for us. If you want to freeze yours in a different size, just follow the portion directions in the instructions. One batch made three small freezer meal desserts that feed 3-4 people each. One full batch feeds 9-12 people and can be made in a 9×13 pan or aluminum sheet cake pan.
Freezer to table in under an hour.
Have you ever had to throw dinner together on short notice? Maybe you’ve got some dry pasta and a jar of sauce, or just a bagged salad and frozen chicken nuggets? Pull one of these babies out of the freezer and pop it into the oven while dinner cooks. This dish will make you look like a super star!
Oatmeal Cookie apple Crisp
Ingredients
Apple Pie Filling
- 8 cups Apples peeled and diced
- 1/4 lb Unsalted Butter 1 stick
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 2 Tbsp Cornstarch
- 1/4 cup Water
Oatmeal Cookie Topping
- 1 cup Rolled Oats
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour
- 3/4 cup Light Brown Sugar packed
- 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/8 tsp Salt
- 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter melted
- 1 Egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 6 mists Pan Spray
Instructions
Apple Filling
- Peel and dice the apples into medium sided chunks. Set aside.
- Preheat a large saute pan or dutch oven. Melt butter. Once butter is hot and bubbly, add diced apples, sugar and cinnamon. Stir to combine and cook with lid on medium heat until the apples feel slightly tender when poked with a fork.
- Dissolve the cornstarch in the water measurement. Gently drizzle mixture into the hot apples and stir until mixture thickens. Cook for an additional minute or two to cook the starch out. Set aside to cool.
Oatmeal Cookie Topping
- Assemble the cookie topping by combining the oats, flour, brown sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice.
- In a small mixing bowl combine the melted butter, egg and vanilla.
- Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
Assemble
- Spay your containers with pan spray. This will make three small (3-4 serving) containers, or one large (10-12 serving) casserole sized dish.
- Divide apple filling equally among containers.
- Top each container with Oatmeal Cookie topping. Distribute topping evenly.
- Cover and freeze, or bake immediately.
- Baking from fresh 350° 20-22 minutes. Baking from frozen 325° 45-55 minutes.
- Serve with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or enjoy warm from the oven.
Here it is. Easy, freezer friendly, effortless dessert ready in under an hour.
