Warm, cozy apple crisp recipe for two! Spiced apples are covered with a cinnamon oat crumble topping and baked until hot and gooey for the perfect small batch fall dessert.
Preheat oven to 350°F and spray two ramekins or mini round cocottes with nonstick spray. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine chopped apples and lemon juice and toss to coat. Add brown sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, cinnamon (and ginger, if including) and stir or toss to coat and combine.
2 medium apples, Squeeze of fresh lemon juice, 2 Tablespoons light brown sugar, 1 Tablespoon cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, Small pinch of ground ginger
Divide the apple filling evenly between the two prepared dishes, and set aside.
Crumb topping
In a medium bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg (if including) and whisk to combine.
1/4 cup all-purpose flour, 3 Tablespoons old fashioned rolled oats, 2 Tablespoons light brown sugar, 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon, Pinch salt, Small pinch of nutmeg
Add cold, cubed butter and use a pastry cutter or fork to combine. Once the mixture forms a large crumb that sticks together, spoon half the crumb mixture in an even layer on top of each dish of apple filling.
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the topping is lightly golden brown and the apples are cooked through and soft. If desired, at the end you can set the oven to Broil to let it quickly brown the tops. Keep a close eye on it, as it will happen quickly!
Carefully remove from the oven, let cool slightly, then serve. Top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce, or just serve as is - enjoy!
Notes
Mini Round Cocottes: I used these 8-ounce Le Creusets in the photos in this post.
Best apples for apple crisp: Granny Smith, Gala, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, Autumn Glory, Braeburn
Like a stronger spiced flavor? Add more of... whatever! More ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger - whatever flavors you love.
Don't have cornstarch for the filling? Substitute with all-purpose flour.
Don't have enough all-purpose flour for the topping? Swap it for gluten-free flour or almond flour.
Use old-fashioned rolled oats in the topping, not steel cut. I don't recommend using steel-cut oats because they're more firm than rolled oats and take longer to absorb liquids and cook. So while the apple filling might be ready to go, the topping would still taste a bit raw.
If you want to make this for a crowd, triple the recipe and bake it in a 9" pie dish instead. You'll likely need to bake it for a bit longer than indicated here, so check it at 30 minutes. Click on the "3X" in the recipe card and it will do all the math for you!