Gingered Apple Crisp

Apples are in season right now and you’ll find an abundance of varieties at your local grocery store and farmer’s market. There are over 2500 varieties of apples grown in the United States alone and California is one of the top apple producing states. Some of the local varieties you may find include Gravenstein, Golden Delicious and Fuji. Apples are great whether eaten fresh, added to a salad, incorporated into a main course or baked into pies and crisps. Here is one of our favorite apple crisp recipes. The ginger in the dish really highlights the flavor of the apples. We recommend using Golden Delicious or Granny Smith apples. They keep their shape when baked and have both a sweet and tart flavor that make them perfect for baking.

Gingered Apple Crisp

Topping:

1 ¼ cup flour

½ cup packed brown sugar

¾ cup unsalted butter

¾ cup sugar

½ cup finely chopped crystallized ginger (about 2 ounces)

Apples:

4 ½ lbs tart apples (about 12)

1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

½ cup sugar

Combine flour, sugars and ginger in processor. Add butter and blend using on/off turns, until small clumps are formed. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Put apples in a bowl, add sugar and lemon juice and toss. Put apple mixture in a 13x9in dish. Press to compact apples. Sprinkle topping evenly over apples. Bake about 45 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla bean ice cream.