Apple Crisp (a la mode!)

What is fall without a trip to the apple orchard?  Although the apples were more expensive than at the store and we had to pick them ourselves, we got to support the Wilson family and we got to pick them ourselves.  

The apples were enormous and nearly falling off the trees.  The sun was shining and the bees (mostly) noticed my red hair wasn't an apple.  The orchard wasn't even that crowded since we were able to go on a Friday afternoon rather than the "real" weekend.  

So what do you do with a dozen giant apples?  Well, you can make an overflowing apple crisp with half of them!  I use my mom's recipe, which is simple in the best way: easy to make & no fancy flavors to mask the apple.

If you're me and you like to multitask, start by peeling, coring, and slicing 6-8 apples (depending on size) while catching up on last week's episode of "The Amazing Race."  Once that's done (which takes considerably more time in real life than in a blog), toss the apples with 1/2 cup sugar, 2 Tbsp. flour, and cinnamon to taste.  Put it all in a greased 9x13 pan.

Next mix together 1/3 cup melted butter, 3/4 cup flour, 3/4 cup oats, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. baking powder.  Spread it over the top of the apples.  Now here's my little trick: put it in the fridge overnight.  This gets the butter in the crumb topping nice and chilled, so when you bake it the crumb gets really crispy.  When you do bake it, set the oven to 350 and bake the crisp for about 45 minutes.  

Now, when you serve the crisp, add some ice cream.  It's just so good.  I've recently been using BlueBunny's Vanilla Bean Frozen Yogurt...yum!  If you like to be a person known for his/her decorum, eat your portion in private because you're probably going to want to lick your bowl.  Just FYI.