A different Apple Crisp

I blame this post on my Schwan's man...yet again!! haha You see last fall Schwan's came out with their seasonal ice cream flavors and we made our selections...my husband managed to get his say on the order and marked down 1 cinnamon ice cream! I had planned on pulling it out at Thanksgiving, but completely forgot about it...that is until this weekend when I was going through my deep freezer and saw the beauty laying, rather abandoned, on the bottom of my freezer! I had completely forgotten about it!!! So I pulled it out and took it into my husband and told him we needed to open it for two reasons: #1 TO GET RID OF IT!!! (we don't need sweets like ice cream laying around at my disposal!) and #2 It was going to go bad and I HATE throwing anything away! Seriously, I really do. I will eat on leftovers a whole week just to not throw something away; I just hate being wasteful.

So my husband suggested I make Apple Crisp. We had everything for it and so I thought sure, why not, it isn't too unhealthy - right?! I knew I had saved some recipes for Apple Crisp, so I pulled out one from Taste of Home and one from my Joy of Cooking Cookbook, and put this together. It was a layered Apple Crisp (with the topping being the layers in between the apples) and it was pretty good, but I think next time I would leave the topping off the bottom so that there would be more juicy apple deliciousness. With the layer of topping on the bottom, it just soaked up all the juice. I did however like the flavor the apple cider gave it! It was perfect with the cinnamon ice cream too!!

Layered Apple Crisp

(adapted from Joy of Cooking and Taste of Home)

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup cold butter
6 apples thinly sliced and peeled (I used tart and sweet apples)
1 cup apple cider, divided

In a large bowl, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon nutmeg and cloves; cut in butter until crumbly. Press half of the mixture into a greased 8 x 8in baking dish. Layer with half of the apples and 1 cup oat mixture. Repeat layers. Pour 1/2 cup cider over top. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 30 minutes. Drizzle with remaining cider; bake 15-20 minutes longer or until apples are tender. Serve warm with ice cream.

**I would definitely make this recipe again, however I think I would lessen the amount of the topping and leave it off the bottom.**