Instant Pot Apple Crisp (2024)

FAQs

How do you keep apples from getting mushy in apple crisp? ›

How do you keep Apple crisp from getting soggy? You need enough butter in your topping, try both melted or cold cut into the dry ingredients. Also, there needs to be enough texture to keep it from just flattening into the fruit below.

Butter, which encourages both browning and crispness, is the magic ingredient in getting your topping just right, so follow the recipe instructions. But if you feel your topping is still too dry and crumbly, (even for a crumble) add a bit more melted butter, a tablespoon at a time.

Use Overripe Fruit

Even if you choose the perfect apple variety, if the fruit is overripe, your apple pie filling will turn to mush. The perfect apple pie filling is not too sweet.

Bake the apple crisp until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden brown and crisp, about 45 minutes. Serve the crisps warm with vanilla bean ice cream or fresh whipped cream, if desired.

The best apples for baking keep their structure under heat, which prevents the chunks of fruit from turning into mush after baking. The firm and crisp Granny Smith and Honeycrisp varieties are popular apples to use in apple pies and apple crisps.

We prefer to prep the apples when we make the crisp, but you can prep them ahead of time. Peel and slice the apples and toss them with lemon juice, then pack tightly in freezer bags and refrigerate for up to one day.

So what's a crumble vs. a crisp? A crumble is just a crisp without oats in the streusel. It may feature nuts, but the streusel topping is usually a simple combination of butter, flour, and sugar that is more clumpy than that of a crisp.

Like an apple crisp, an apple crumble is a baked fruit dessert with a layer of topping. But unlike the crisp, the crumble topping rarely includes oats or nuts. Instead, a crumble's topping is more like streusel, made with flour, sugar and butter.

Baking: Start baking the apple crisp covered with foil. This allows the apples to soften without any risk of the topping over-browning. After about 20 minutes, remove the foil and let the crisp finish cooking uncovered. Once the juices are bubbling, the topping is golden brown, and the apples are tender, it is done!

The best way to achieve this is to use cold cubed butter. Using room-temperature or melted butter will cause the topping to spread out and flatten when it bakes, rather than standing pert and perky. Leaveners like baking powder and soda make baked goods light and airy—an excellent quality in cake.

Should apple crisp go in the fridge? ›

Apple Crisp is very much like apple pie in that it doesn't NEED to be refrigerated, but the shelf life will be extended if you do store it in the refrigerator. I recommend storing it on the countertop for up to two days, or up to four days in the refrigerator.

Crumble requires more baking time than you think; the top should be brown and the filling should be bubbling. In order to thicken properly, the cornstarch in the filling must boil, which is why bubbling is a key indicator for doneness.

When does Apple Crisp expire? Apple crisp, whether homemade or purchased, lasts about 5-7 days in the refrigerator. If you're not planning to consume it within that timeframe, it might be best to freeze it, which can extend its shelf life to up to 3 months. Once it's thawed though, consume it within 2 days.

Simple. Gently precook the apples, which drains them of liquid and shrinks their bulk. They'll shrink no more once they're added to the pie, which means there'll be no gap between the filling and the top crust. But don't toss out that liquid!

Store Apples In The Fridge

Once rinsed and dried, your apples simply need a trip to the fridge to maintain maximum crispness for as much as two months, though some may start to brown at six weeks. Leaving them on the counter will only give them a shelf life of a few days.

I used 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice per cup of water. I soaked the apple slices in the water for five minutes, then rinsed in a colander under running tap water. The lemon water-dipped slices stayed fresher in the zip-top bag than they did on a plate.