I’m normally not too keen to immediately share a recipe that I’ve only just tried for the first time, but this one was incredible on the first try so I wanted to share it ASAP.

What Are We Cooking Today?

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Apologies, I ate a bit already...

This is a blueberry and apple crisp, with a filling that’s been cooked more than is typical for an apple crisp to give a texture that’s soft and almost buttery while still maintaining a crisp topping.

I used multiple types of apples in this, and I’m honestly not sure exactly which apples ended up in this because I went apple picking the weekend before making this and just threw multiple varities in the same bag. That said, I’m fairly certain one of the apples was a honeycrisp, and the other was either macintosh or cortland. Using multiple types was on purpose though, as I only used 2 apples (I didn’t want to make a huge batch if it wasn’t gonna be good) and I wanted the two to cook down at different rates to give some textural contrast to the filling.

For the topping, I started with the topping from this King Arthur apple crisp recipe, but I made a few adjustments. Since the filling was going to be more syrupy and have more water than normal, I used regular steel-cut oats and not quick oats (I also just prefer them over quick oats), and I scaled the recipe to try to fit the amount I was making.

The blueberries are just regular blueberries I got from the grocery store. Wish I could say I picked them myself, but alas… perhaps next year.

What Are We Doing Different From Normal?

Depending on the recipe you follow, you typically don’t cook the apples much, if at all, before baking an apple crisp. I’ve never been much of a fan of this approach - while it can produce good results, I feel like you often end up with one of two problems depending on the type(s) of apples you used: either your apples end up undercooked, or your topping ends up overcooked. Personally, I’d actually even prefer if the filling was more like a thicker apple sauce with some larger chunks of soft apple throughout, which is what I aimed for in my recipe.

So with that said, unsurprisingly, my first change from normal apple crisp is to cook the apples much more than is typical. We’ll be simmering them along with the blueberries before we bake.

My second change is more cinnamon. I’ve noticed this with recipes across all websites and across the entire internet, but severely underestimating cinnamon seems to be a common and critical weakness. I am here to advocate for at least doubling the amount of cinnamon you see in almost any recipe you find on the internet that calls for it. Both my filling and the topping will have more cinnamon than you’ll find in similar apple crisp recipes on the internet, and it’s not even close to overwhelming the flavor of the dish.

The final major change is, obviously, adding blueberries to the mix. I’ve been baking with apples for an entire week and wanted to do something new while still using more of my massive mountain of apples, so I figured blueberries were another good fall fruit to include.

Some Notes Before the Recipe

A few of the ingredients are marked with question marks in the recipe - this is because I just kinda eyeballed those and these amounts are the best guesses I’ve got. I don’t think they need to be exact, so don’t worry too much about following me exactly if you think you have a better idea.

If you’re only using one type of apple, unlike me, then your fruit filling will probably have a little less textural contrast than mine did. Regardless, you’ll want to add blueberries in before your apples are fully tender so that they hit just about the right consistency as the blueberries finish up and the cornstarch gets a chance to thicken the mixture. In the oven, the apples will finish breaking down into a perfect, smooth texture that’s easy to cut through but still deliciously sweet.

I’ll also note that I used toasted sugar instead of regular white sugar in my filling. However, I don’t think it actually changes anything in this recipe so I just listed it as “sugar” in the recipe below. The flavors of the apple, cinnamon, and blueberries are all so strong that they overwhelm any nutty caramel flavors that the toasted sugar could’ve provided.

This is an excellent pairing with vanilla ice cream, as apple crisp tends to be. I ate a piece probably 20-30 minutes after it came out of the oven, while it was still warm but after everything had finished setting up, and had a healthy scoop of vanilla ice cream with it, and it was divine.

One final aside: I didn’t use walnuts in the topping this time but I think they’d be a banger addition. I’d recommend trying it if you’re a walnut person, it should still be great with this style of apple crisp.

The Recipe: Blueberry Apple Crisp