Ahhhhhh….It’s fall in New England and THAT means apple season! We live close to several apple picking orchards and while we DO go apple picking (and we WILL actually tromp through the orchard and pick the apples later this week), today our apple picking consisted of picking out a bag of apples and eating fresh-out-of-the-fryer sugar crusted cider donuts at the orchard farm store?!

But the cider donuts, OMGosh, you haven’t lived until you’ve had one of these. These are NOT the same as the sad excuse for them you find in boxes at the grocery store. These are light fluffy warm bites of sugar crusted heavenly goodness!

BUT cider donuts is not the recipe I’m sharing today. I promised an EASY recipe and nothing involving frying anything in a vat of oil qualifies as easy! Today, I’m sharing a recipe for an Apple Cobbler/Crisp type dessert. This is a recipe I got years ago from my dear friend, Nancy, and it is my go to fall recipe when I need a dessert for a group and I need it fast! Easier and less time consuming than apple pie (though I’ll share a favorite apple pie recipe in an upcoming post), this is Apple Cookie Crust…which is, more or less, apple pie filling topped with sugar cookie dough.

Apple Cookie Crust Recipe

Ingredients

• 8 apples, cored and peeled and cut into slices

• 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 Tbsp sugar (optional)

• 1 egg

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 cup flour

• 1 stick (1/4 lb) butter, melted

• 1/2 to 1 cup pecans, chopped (you can also use walnuts, or skip the nuts altogether if need be)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350’F. Prepare apples and toss with cinnamon/sugar mixture, if desired. Transfer apples to a 3 qt or 9” x 13” baking dish. In a medium mixing bowl combine melted butter, sugar, flour, egg and chopped nuts. I use a large pyrex measuring cup to melt the butter in the microwave and then add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine - minimal dishes to clean up! Top the apples with dollops of the cookie dough. Bake in 350’F oven for 40 minutes or until topping starts turning golden.

Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream. Or eat the leftovers for breakfast - hey, it’s fruit, right?

The essential tools below (click on image for more info):

Enjoy!

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