Mini Apple Crisps

We are on our way to some friends house for dinner and I wanted to bring desserts for both the grown ups and the kids. I had recently bought these cute little cup liners at Surfas and really wanted to use them. I thought about making little bread puddings. Then I remembered that I had all these apples that I had bought at the farmers market. I decided to go with mini apple crisps. I was excited to use my little liners.

I turned toward the Tartine cookbook and she had an easy crisp recipe. I prepared the topping and then put in the fridge. I peeled and cored the apples and then started filling the cup liners.

All looked good. The topping was really easy to work with. The directions said to pat the topping into a flat, pancake type shape. In hindsight, I should have just crumbled it over the top of the apples. When I took the crisps out of the oven, they looked a little messy. I don't like messy looking food. They only looked messy because the juice from the apples and the butter from the topping kind of leaked out all over the baking sheet.

I brought them to our friends regardless. No one seemed to notice the mess that I was obsessing over. The only comments I received were positive, with one party goer asking for seconds!

Ingredients

Filling

• 3 lbs. assorted apples
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 Tbsp. lemon juice
• zest from one lemon
• 1/8 tsp. salt

Topping

• 1 cup unsalted butter, cold
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp. cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350*. If making one big crisp, butter bottom of a 9"x 13" baking dish.

2. Core, peel and slice the apples. In another bowl, combine sugar, lemon juice, zest and salt. Add to apples and either spread in large pan or divide among the individual cups.

3. To make the topping, place sugar and butter in a mixing bowl. Use the whisk attachment on medium speed and beat until smooth. Add flour, cinnamon & salt and mix until a smooth dough forms.

4. Top crisps with dough and lay on top of apples.

5. Bake large pan for about 1 1/2 hours. If making individual, check after 20 minutes. If not done, keep checking every 5-7 minutes until the apples start to bubble.

6. Can be served at room temp or cold.

Top with ice cream and everyone will be happy!