Cinnamon Apple Cornbread Crisp
The flavor is wholesome, familiar, and wonderfully fresh.
There’s something about a fruit crisp (or crumble as some folks call it) for dessert that just really makes the meal, And, this type of recipe is a great way to use up fruits that won’t last much longer. In the case of apples, the rich flavors and texture that a crisp adds to the tartness is something special. Make it with cornbread instead of a wheat flour or graham cracker topping and you’ve got a really special dessert.
If you’ve never made an apple cornbread crisp before then you don’t know what you’re missing! And, the best part is that you probably already have most of the ingredients on hand already. It couldn’t be simpler to make and the payoff is a wonderful dessert that combines the classic flavors of apples and corn together.
Any tart apples are great for this dish. Here we used Granny Smith apples, but you could also use Braeburn, Gravenstein, Honeycrisp, or Jonathon apples. The sweeter and less firm eating apples, like Golden Delicious or Fuji, don’t tent to bake up as well. Plus, the tartness adds a nice contrast to the sweet cornbread topping.
To prepare the apples all you have to do is mix the peeled and chopped apples with some rich molasses and set them aside while you mix up everything else. This recipe calls for one 8.5-ounce package of cornbread mix which is stirred together with some instant oats, brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. Then you cut in cubed butter to make a crumbly dough.
You mix in a half cup of the sweet cornbread and oat mixture with the molasses apples.
Then you add the apples to your baking dish and the finally the rest of the cornbread-oat crumble goes on top. When baked for 30-35 minutes, the result is a bubbly, crumbly, crispy, sweet-tart apple crumble with the comforting flavor of cornbread- not overpowering but very delicious.
This dessert is best served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a flavor that is wholesome, familiar, and wonderfully fresh.
Cinnamon Apple Cornbread Crisp
Yield(s): Serves 6
15m prep time
35m cook time
Allergens: Milk
Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 4-5 tart apples, peeled and chopped
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1 (8.5-oz) package cornbread mix
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup unflavored instant oats
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 5 tablespoons cold butter, cubed
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350°. In large bowl coat apples with molasses. Set aside.
- In a separate large bowl combine oats, cornbread mix, cinnamon, vanilla, and brown sugar. Cut in butter with fork or pastry knife until crumbly.
- Add a half cup of the cornbread crumble to the apples and stir. Pour this into an 8-inch square baking dish.
- Top apples with remaining cornbread crumble. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Best served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Recipe adapted from Taste of Home.