This delicious recipe for Honeycrisp Apple Cobbler uses fresh apples, hickory nuts and cinnamon, and it is served hot with a scoop of ice cream. There are so many yummy recipes for apples. I love apple pie, apple crisp, and apple turnovers, but sometimes you don’t have time to make them. One of my favorite desserts to make is a Honeycrisp Apple Cobbler.
Honeycrisp Apple Cobbler
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
The topping on this Simple Apple Cobbler is incredibly fluffy and sweet. The apples are precisely flavored, delicious, and tender. This is a straightforward dessert for the fall.
The topping on this recipe for Quick Apple Cobbler is incredibly fluffy and delightfully sweet. The apples are precisely flavored, delicious, and tender. With seasonal fresh fruit, this dessert is straightforward, quick, and uncomplicated. An absolute necessity is a spoonful of ice cream on top.
I’ll shout it from the mountaintops, because this is an Easy Apple Cobbler. that’s way simpler than any apple pie you might not have time to make, and it’s fluffy, wonderfully spiced, and perfectly spiced.
I’ll admit it, this season is all about the pies. Of course, I also have my go-to apple pie recipe, which I believe will never fail. But let’s face it, creating, rolling out, and crimping pie dough doesn’t always have time.
I adore cobblers. But first, before we begin. Let’s talk about semantics:
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CRISP VS. COBBLER?
Cobblers, crumblers, and crisp. What’s the distinction? They resemble each other so much. In essence, they consist of whole, diced, or cut-up fruit at the bottom of a baking dish. usually combined with sugar, lemon juice, a thickening (flour, cornstarch, or tapioca starch), and other flavors. They are then baked after being topped with something.
- Crisps – typically have something that makes it—yep—crisp on top. Think rolled oats, diced nuts, butter, and flour. Crisps are usually topped with a streusel like topping.
- Cobbler – some cobblers are topped with drop biscuits, other times they’re topped with more of a looser batter.
- This is obviously the latter. And we’re not making drop biscuits, instead we’re making a looser-type batter that resembles more of a pancake batter. But with a strong butter flavor. Lol.
WHAT KIND OF APPLES FOR APPLE COBBLER
Whenever you bake an apple dessert–whether it be for an apple pie or apple cobbler–you want baking apples. My favorite, easy-to-find apples are honey crisp apples and gala apples.
INGREDIENTS FOR APPLE COBBLER
This recipe is like a cake-like batter poured on top of thinly sliced apples that are tossed in spices and sugar. Here are the ingredients you’ll need for the filling:
- Apples. I used a combo of gala apples and honey crips. Any baking apples would be great!
- Brown Sugar + granulated sugar. These two sugars are great for this baked apple recipe. If you wanted to do ALL brown sugar, that works too.
- All-purpose flour. This thickens the baked apple mixture. They’re not super juicy so flour vs. cornstarch is what we’re using.
- Lemon juice. This adds a lovely tartness to this recipe. It balances out the warm spices and sweet apples.
- Warm spices. I like to use a balanced combination of ground cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and cloves. None of these spices are prominent; you don’t really notice any one flavor–instead it’s a balanced flavor of spices.
- For the topping, you’ll be making a simple cake-like topping. You’ll need flour, vanilla, melted butter, some leavening, sugar and milk.
HOW TO MAKE APPLE COBBLER
What I love about this recipe is how simple it is to come together. Here’s how to make it:
- The filling should be combined. I combined gala and honey crisp apples. Other apple combinations are also completely viable. Add the spices, flour, lemon juice, sugar, vanilla, and brown sugar after that.
- The topping is really straightforward:
- The flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, milk, melted butter, and vanilla are combined in a medium basin.
- On a baking dish, the topping is then placed on top of the filling.
- In the oven and boom! done!
As much as I wish this was a one-bowl recipe, it’s a two-bowl recipe. But it’s simple, simple!
TIPS AND TRICKS FOR APPLE COBBLER
I’m sure you’re asking yourself some of the following questions. Can you make a topping for biscuits? Yes, but this recipe isn’t exactly that one, so I’d hunt find one that is and use the apple-spiced component of this one.
Would this topping complement fresh fruit or a peach cobbler? Absolutely. Just so you know, peaches and berries are juicier than apples, therefore you’ll need to use more thickening agent than flour (what we have here). Because of this, berry fruit cobblers surely have varied ratios.
The Best Apple Crisp Recipe
The greatest autumnal treat is this apple crisp recipe! With a dollop of vanilla ice cream, the buttery cinnamon oat topping atop fresh sliced apples is to die for!
When my family and I recently took a short excursion to a nearby apple orchard, this Apple Crisp Recipe was the first thing that came to mind. As it was raining and in the 50s outside, it wasn’t the best day to travel.
Even though it was their first time apple picking, our kids still had a nice time. In addition, we brought a “peck” of apples home with us.
We could have created a variety of wonderful apple recipes, but my personal favorite is apple crisp.
We had the good fortune to choose Honeycrisp apples, which are my personal favorite. They are the ideal ingredient for this apple crisp dish because of their robust construction, sweet-tart flavor, and tempting dessert appeal.
Ingredients for The Best Apple Crisp Recipe
- fresh apples
- granulated white sugar
- cinnamon
- vanilla extract
- all purpose flour
- old fashioned oats
- brown sugar
- salt
- butter
More Tips and Notes for the Best Apple Crisp Recipe
- Slice your apples evenly. I slice my apples using this slicer to speed up the process and remove the core easily. I then slice the apples one more time each with my knife so that the widest part of the slice is roughly 1/2 an inch wide. You can also chop them into big chunks if you would prefer, but just make sure that you chop your apples to a uniform size to ensure even baking in your apple crisp.
- Prevent over-browning. If your topping is starting to get too brown but your apples still need more time to cook, simply place some aluminum foil loosely over the top of your pan and continue baking.
- Optional additions: Chopped nuts like pecans or walnuts would be a delicious addition to the topping! I didn’t add any to ours because my son has a nut allergy.
- Serving: this apple crisp tastes AMAZING with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top! You could also top it with whipped cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce. Yum!
Apple Cobbler
One of my absolute favorite fall treats is this traditional apple cobbler. It has a lovely cake-like topping and is cooked with fresh apples in a cinnamon sauce.
At our house, cobbler recipes are a staple. When apple season arrives, it’s either homemade apple crisp, apple cobbler, or fresh apple cake; on repeat! We love peach and blueberry cobbler all year long.
Apple Cobbler
I wanted to use the same old-fashioned cake-like topping that I use in my other recipes instead of the biscuit-like topping that many apple cobbler recipes call for. It goes incredibly well with the sauce and soft apples in this recipe because it has a slight crunch on the top and is soft in the interior.
How’s Apple Cobbler different from Apple Crisp?
Apple cobbler and apple crisp are two distinct desserts. Apple crisp includes a crumble topping made of oats that is as crunchy as its name suggests. This apple cobbler is topped with a smooth batter that is poured over the apple filling and baked more like a cake.
Which apples are best for baking?
Any baking apple will work great! I tend to prefer Granny Smith apples but I also like Gala apples, Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious, or any other tart apple.
To peel or not to peel?
I enjoy peeling the apples for apple cobbler, yes! Because the skin doesn’t degrade when baking, the finished product may have a harder texture. (But, if you want, you can leave the skin on and cut the apples into smaller pieces.) During this step, I use my Johnny Apple Peeler because it performs the labor for me. The apple is simultaneously PEELED, CORES, and SLICED!
4 steps to easy Apple Cobbler:
Make the Apple Filling: Stir together water, brown sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a large saucepan. Stir in apples. Cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes.
Make the batter: In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the milk and melted butter, just until combined.
Pour into dish. Add apple mixture to your pan and pour the batter evenly on top. Sprinkle it lightly with cinnamon and it’s ready to bake!
Bake: at 350 degrees for about 38-40 minutes. Serve warm, with a scoop of ice cream, if desired.
Make Ahead and Freezer Instructions:
You could prepare the apple filling and store it in the fridge for up to 3 days, or freeze it for up to 3 months.
You can also freeze the baked cobbler for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm in the oven before serving.
FAQs
What kind of apples work best for Apple Crisp?
This kind of comes down to preference, or what you have available, but generally you’re going to want a variety of apple that will hold its shape after baking and not turn to total mush. We had a huge bag of Honeycrisp apples (my personal favorite) to use up, so that’s what I used. Granny Smith are usually considered the best apples for apple pie, but Golden Delicious, Braeburn, and Pink Lady apples would all work well for this apple crisp recipe, or for a pie.
Do I need to peel the apples?
My short answer for this is no! But that’s because I don’t like to do more work than I have to, and I don’t mind apple peels, especially once they’re baked. If you would prefer your apple crisp without the peel, though, feel free to remove them!
Does apple crisp need to be refrigerated?
You can store your prepared and baked apple crisp covered tightly on the counter top for up to three days. You do not need to refrigerate it unless you would like to. Due to its crisp, crumbly topping, apple crisp tastes best when served the same day, as the topping can get soggy the longer it sits. Just keep that in mind!
Can you freeze apple crisp?
Yes! Prepare the apple crisp recipe as directed and allow it to cool completely. Cover with both plastic wrap and aluminum foil and freeze for up to 4 months. Allow it to thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.