Grandma’s Old Fashioned Apple Crisp Recipe

Grandma’s Old Fashioned  Apple Crisp recipe is a traditional apple crisp without oats. The melt-in-your-mouth topping screams cinnamon and butter and will have your family begging for more.

Apple Crisp Without Oats Recipe:

How do you make apple crisp from scratch?

Follow these simple instructions below, and soon your house will be smelling like fall.

Arrange peeled, sliced apples in a baking dish. Combine water and ground cinnamon, and pour over apples in the baking dish. Work together butter, sugar and flour until crumbly. Sprinkle over the sliced apples. Bake in preheated oven until the top is golden brown.  The full instructions for old fashioned apple crisp recipe can be found below.

We are in love with this recipe.  Barbara found it in Grandma’s Old Wooden Recipe Box (her most prized possession). It really is a unique recipe because it’s apple crisp with no oats and no brown sugar.  Instead, the topping is a combination of flour, white sugar, and butter (or margarine). The cinnamon goodness is poured right over the sliced apples in the pan before the topping goes on.

Our Grandma was a phenomenal cook, baker, Grandma, Mom, friend, woman.  And, making and eating this recipe reminds us feel the way we felt when we spent time with her.

Grandma also had another easy apple cobbler type dessert in her recipe box. If you like yours with an oat topping, try our Old-Fashioned Apple Crumble recipe.

Old Fashioned Apple Crisp Recipe Ingredients:

Apples, peeled and sliced

Water

Ground Cinnamon

Flour

Butter (or margarine)

Sugar

 

How do you make apple crisp from scratch?

Full recipe for homemade apple crisp without brown sugar is at the bottom of this page.

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Peel and slice apples.
3. Arrange apples in a baking dish; combine water and ground cinnamon and pour over top the apples in the dish.
4. Work together butter, flour and sugar until crumbly using two forks, a pastry blender or even your clean hands.
5. Sprinkle crumb topping over apples.
6. Bake for approximately 35-40 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Notes About the Best Ever Apple Crisp Recipe:

• You can use a metal 9 x 9 or 8 x 8 inch pan or go old fashioned and use a 1 1/2 or 2 quart Pyrex or Corning Ware dish. Any of those will work.  Just watch the cooking time.  This delicious apple crisp will cook faster in a larger pan because it’s spread thinner.
• Grandma says margarine can be used instead of butter.
• To make the crumbly topping for this old fashioned apple crisp, use two forks, a pastry blender or even your clean hands. Work it until it resembles course crumbs.
• Love apple crisps without oats? Try this Minnesota Apple Crisp recipe.
• This recipe inspired us to make a divine cherry version.  Try it!  A peach version would be good too. Here is a Blueberry Brown Betty recipe that’s similar to a blueberry crisp.
• Should you should peel your apples first before making this crisp? Not necessarily.  If you are in a hurry, then you could leave the peels on; however, this does change the texture of the crisp.  If you have time, go ahead and peel them.
• Grandma would say to use whatever apples you have on hand for this easy apple crisp recipe. We agree!
• Try serving it warm with vanilla ice cream!

Try Other Fruit Desserts

Love fruit cobblers, crisps and cakes? Here’s some more of our favorite old fashioned fruit desserts.

Easy Cherry Crisp

Crock Pot Peach Cobbler

Grandma’s Rhubarb Streusel Dessert

Peach Batter Cake

 Grandma’s Rhubarb Pie

Our Favorite Apple Recipes

We love cooking with apples…especially baking with this versatile fruit. Here are some of our favorite apple recipes:

• Old-Fashioned Apple Slab Pie
• Minnesota Apple Crisp
• Caramel Apple Crisp Bars

Linking up to Weekend Potluck!

Linking up to Meal Plan Monday.