What's for Dessert?

I thought I'd deviate this time from What's for Dinner to What's for dessert. Now that September is here, it's apple picking season. I love this time of year. It's the sunny warm days and cool nights, blue sky's and Fall is right around the corner. Every September, my family always picks a local orchard and we pick apples, enjoy the hot cider donuts and bring home a gallon of Fresh Apple Cider. I'm just happy still that both my teenagers still enjoy hitting the orchard, something we've been doing since they were little. 

Here is a recipe that goes way back to my high school years, the early 80's (1981 to be exact) and big hair! When I was a junior in highschool, I lived in Worcester and my best friend Mo lived in Shrewsbury.  We use to drive out to Brookfield MA (about a 30 min drive away) to hit the apple orchards to pick apples.  Most people think the town of Westford is in the boondocks, well Brookfield in the 80's was our boondocks. Might still be, it's a quaint small town and I don't think the population has grown much since then. Kimballs here in town is a destination to head to on a weekend, but back in the 80's Brookfield Orchards was our Kimball's of today. 

The store from the link below looks pretty much the same as it did 30 yrs ago.  Makes me want to take a long drive to Brookfield and place an order.  The apple dumplings at the snack bar hasn't changed in over 30 yrs. I don't get any royalties from the orchard, just going there conjured up memories of how this recipe came about. Also how this recipe will be handed down to my kids when they are grown and out of the house.

http://www.brookfieldorchardsonline.com/snack.htm

What we really drove out there for was the hot apple dumplings and vanilla icecream that they made fresh, they were to die for.  We would pick apples, hit the penny candy store and eat hot apple dumplings which we always opted for icecream and not the cheddar cheese.  Well after picking apples my friend gave me her recipe for her homemade apple crisp. I am almost positive this recipe  came from her mom Peg. I'm still best friends with MO and this recipe is over 30 yrs old and I still use this recipe.

The recipe can be doubled, tripled even for a crowd. When my dad was working I was summoned to make the apple crisp for one of his work functions. This was before the apple peeler corer slicer gadget, so all those apples were peeled and cored by hand, not fun, but so worth it in the end. The recipe below is Hot Apple Crisp and that's what for Dessert.  Love this recipe hot but really tastes better when it's COLD!!  Who knew?

Mo's Apple Crisp

Spray a 13x9 Pan with Pam or any casserole dish you have that is deep.

6 Cups of peeled, cored sliced apples

6 Tablespoons Sugar

1/4 Tsp cinnamon

Mix together and put in the 13x9 pan

Topping:

3/4 Cup sifted flour

1/3 Cup Softened butter

6 Tablespoons Sugar

1/2 Teaspoon salt

Mix together and place on top of apples. Bake at 350 for 45-50 mins till bubbly and brown on top.

Hope you enjoy!