Skillet Apple Crisp
Cinnamon apples under an oat crumble, baked in a covered pot over coals.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 104
- protein
- 5 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 35 min
- total time
- 50 min
- water
- 300 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dessert
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dried apple slices | 3 cups | about 6 fresh apples' worth, rehydrated at camp |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar | 1/4 cup | |
| Cinnamon | 1 1/2 tsp | 1 tsp for the filling, 1/2 tsp for the topping |
| Nutmeg | 1/4 tsp | |
| Salt | 1 tsp | split between filling and topping |
| Lemon juice | 1 tbsp | the shelf-stable bottled kind, or a packet of citric acid |
| Rolled oats | 1 cup | |
| Flour | 1/2 cup | |
| Brown sugar | 3/4 cup | 1/4 cup goes under the filling, 1/2 cup into the topping |
| Butter | 9 tbsp | clarified butter or ghee keeps unrefrigerated for a week |
Method
- Build a fire and let it burn down to coals well before you want dessert. You need embers, not flames.
- Pour the dried apples into the dutch oven with about 300 ml of water. Bring it to a boil, cover, and pull it off the heat for 15 minutes until the slices are soft and pliable.
- Drain off any standing water. Stir in the sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, nutmeg, half the salt, and the lemon juice.
- Scrape the filling into a bowl or mug. Melt 1 tbsp of butter in the empty pot, sprinkle 1/4 cup brown sugar over it, then return the apples on top.
- Rub the remaining butter into the oats, flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and the rest of the salt until it clumps. Spread it over the apples.
- Lid on. Set the oven on a bed of coals and shovel more coals onto the lid, roughly twice as many on top as underneath. Bake 30 to 35 minutes.
- Check at 25 minutes. When the topping is browned and the edges bubble, take it off and let it sit ten minutes before serving.
Fresh apples are heavy and bruise in a pack, so this uses dried slices and puts the water back in at camp. That step matters: dried apples baked straight into a crisp pull moisture out of the topping and leave you with leathery fruit under wet crumble. Boil them first, drain, and the ratio comes out right.
The brown sugar and butter smeared on the pot bottom before the filling goes in is doing two jobs. It keeps the fruit from welding itself to cast iron, and it caramelizes into a thin syrup at the base. Coals go mostly on the lid, since a crisp browns from the top and the bottom only needs enough heat to bubble.
Packing
Premix the filling spices in one bag and the whole topping, butter excepted, in another. Dried apples go in a third. Ghee travels in a screw-top jar inside a second bag.
Variations
- Dried cranberries or raisins in the filling cover for apples that rehydrate unevenly.
- Crushed shortbread or graham crackers can stand in for half the flour if you would rather not carry it.
- Substitute coconut oil for the butter and it goes vegan and dairy-free.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/harvest-apple-crisps