| Difficulty | Preparation | Cooking | Serves |
| Easy | 10 Minutes | 35 Minutes | 6 |
Autumn, with its spectacular changing colours in nature and cooler days, always reminds us of getting cozy with a soft blanket and a good book. We welcome the harvest of fresh, juicy apples from local farms and even anticipate this annual event before summer ends. Our hearts are grateful for nature’s bounty as we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups golden yellow sugar, packed
- 1 3/4 cups Nalle rye flakes
- 3/4 cup cold butter
- cinnamon
- ground cardamom, optional
- 5 large apples
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 °F. Lightly grease an 8X10 baking pan.
- Measure the sugar, oats and butter into a large mixing bowl. Cut butter into smaller pieces and with fingers, rub into mixture until ingredients are integrated. Set aside.
- Peel and thinly slice apples into baking dish. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon and stir to distribute spice.
- Cover with oat topping and press down gently.
- Bake for 35-45 minutes, until oats are golden in colour.
- Serve with vanilla Ice cream.
Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Being Finnish, we love rye cereal and breads so we had to find out how the hearty grain would flourish in a fruit dessert. The result was delicious and it is a great alternative to oats! Flavour of the baked crisp is only slightly different, but nutritional content is where rye achieves superiority. While both rye and oats are a good source of fibre, rye stands out as a good source of B vitamins, and has a greater content of protein, potassium, Vitamin K, Vitamin E, and Zinc.
Apples are nutritious – a good source of Vitamin C and fibre – an excellent choice for eating healthy. Despite their high carb and sugar content, they have a low glycemic index (GI). Grown throughout the world, there are now over 7,500 varieties!
Have you noticed how different types of apples have their own individual flavours? Other than sweet or tart, red, green or yellow, apples are unique in the way they cook. Granny Smith is great for baked desserts where sugar is an added ingredient. On the other hand, Golden Delicious and Honeycrisp make luscious applesauce without the addition of sugar.
Of course, there is nothing quite like biting into a fresh, juicy, ripe apple. Some favourite varieties of crispy apples for eating raw are Jonagold, Ambrosia and Gingergold. It can be fun to choose an assortment of various apples to try—just slice, share with friends and explore the difference with your tastebuds. What is your favourite variety?
Jonagold apples are our number one choice for making Apple Crisp. Their tart-sweet flavour provides a tasty contrast to the crunchy, brown sugar oat topping. It’s a comfort food classic featuring only a few basic ingredients and it’s gluten free. The fragrant aroma of apples and cinnamon baking in the oven will fill your home and delight your senses! Serve warm with a scoop of high quality vanilla ice cream and savour every bite! Make a day ahead of your Thanksgiving Dinner as an alternate for those who prefer to skip the traditional pumpkin pie.
Try our yummy Nordic apple crisp variation with traditional Finnish baking flavours! Use Rye Flakes instead of oats, and add Ground Cardamom along with the cinnamon to the apples.
Oh, and by the way, we sheepishly admit that sometimes leftover apple crisp has become a topping on our breakfast porridge.
