Best Ever Caramel Apple Crisp

As I've stated previously, I'm not the crisp or crumb person in the house -- my husband is. He could eat an entire crisp straight out of a dutch oven over a campfire if given the chance. I'm more a cake or pie person, but don't get me wrong, a good crisp is certainly hard to beat. But to me, crisps can tend to be a bit blah. Boring. Snore. I like something with a little oomph, which is what led me to do a world wide web innernets search for the best ever to-die for apple crisp, in order to please and wow my ever appreciative husband.

I may have found the recipe, folks. Granted I've adapted it a little, cutting out the evaporated milk and also processing the oats until they resembled bread crumbs more than whole oats, but either way, the end result sure comes close to what I was looking for. Who can turn away from ooey gooey caramel slathered over piping hot cinnamon apples? My grade: A

Best Ever Caramel Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

Apple filling:

5 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup quick cooking oats
1 cup butter, softened

Caramel Sauce

1 14 ounce package caramels, unwrapped
3 tablespoons milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium sized bowl, toss apples with sugar, flour, cinnamon, lemon juice and water; spread evenly in 9X13 pan.

In a saucepan over low heat, melt the caramels with the milk. Heat, stirring frequently, until mixture is smooth. Drizzle caramel sauce over the top of the apples.

In another bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, oats and butter; spoon mixture evenly over caramel and apples.

Bake in preheated oven for about 45 minutes (apple mixture will bubble and topping will be golden brown).

Difficulty: Intermediate
Cooking time: 1 hr 40 minutes
Yield: 12 servings