Skillet Apple Crisp

Stop what you are doing and make this now! It is a-FREAKIN-mazing. It tastes like apple pie and Poppycock had a love child. Even more so because I covered all my servings with salted caramel. It is a sugar bomb of glory that beats out all other pie/tart/crisp style desserts for me. Sweet apples are tossed with a cider mixture and baked with a buttery oat and pecan crumble topping. Any sweet apple like Gala or Honeycrisp would work for this.

First you toss your prepped apples with a cinnamon-sugar mixture and mix up the crumble topping:

Then you cut the butter into the topping and throw the apple cider into a skillet to reduce. The cider should reduce by about half in volume. I didn't reduce mine enough so there was some extra liquid on the bottom of my crisp, but it thickened up nicely in the fridge.





After you reduce the cider, you remove it from the pan and stir it with the lemon juice. Then you throw the apples in the same skillet and cook them until the edges start to get soft, but they're not totally cooked through (the apples finish cooking in the oven):

 

Then you toss the reduced cider mixture with the apples, add the topping, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. And if you wanna go completely over the top, you whip up a batch of salted caramel while the crisp is baking:

 





Then you devour it while convincing yourself that most of the pan is a reasonable serving size. I mean it is mostly apples, right?

Skillet Apple Crisp

Yields 6 to 8 servings
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated via Brown Eyed Baker

For the Topping:
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup pecans, chopped fine
¾ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
½ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

For the Filling:
3 pounds Honeycrisp apples (about 7 medium), peeled, cored, halved, and cut into ½-inch-thick wedges
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup apple cider
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1.  Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Prep your apples and toss them with the cinnamon and sugar (from the filling ingredients).

2. In another bowl, make the topping by combining all the topping ingredients EXCEPT the butter. Then cut the butter into the topping mixure.

3. In a skillet, simmer the cider until it's reduced by half, about 5-10 minutes. Remove and stir with the lemon juice.

4. In the now empty skillet, cook the apple mixture in the 2 tablespoons of butter, stirring frequently for 12-14 minutes over medium heat. Don't completely cook the apples.

5. Toss the cider mixture with the apples and cover with the topping. Bake for 15-20 minutes. While it's baking, you can make this salted caramel recipe, just reduce the salt by half or more. Let the crisp cool a few minutes before devouring.