Slow Cooker Apple Crumble

Slow Cooker Apple Crumble:

As promised in my recent apple picking post (Stripes on Stripes), here is a delicious (and EASY) fall recipe for using up those bags of hand picked apples!

This “Slow Cooker Apple Crumble” is from FakeGinger.com.  Also see CountryLiving.com’s 40 Apple Dessert Recipes.

I’m SO happy there’s finally a chill to the air and I can fire up the slow cooker (aka plug it in, sit back and watch magic happen).  It’s good for dinner and desserts, and everything in between.  Of course, it’s really a four season cooker (you can make just about anything in it), but I tend to only use it during the colder months for stews and such.  This was my first time using it for a dessert dish, and since you really can’t mess up a slow cooker recipe, it came out delicious!  And the best part?  It took almost zero effort.  Round up the ingredients, chop up the apples (this recipe recommends peeling them..no need!), mix your ingredients together, throw it in the slow cooker for 2 hours on high…that’s the gist of it. (More detailed instructions here, on FakeGinger.com)

Notes on the recipe:

• I didn’t peel the apples. Why use up more time and energy when it tastes just as great with the skins on, and that’s where most of the nutrients are?
• It came out fine without flour or vanilla extract (I didn’t have these ingredients on hand, and missing ingredients have never stopped me before)
• I used only a brown sugar/splenda mix (this one) for all of the sugar called for (if you use this sugar blend, be sure to cut the amount in half– it does not measure like regular sugar)
• I never measure out the cinnamon..dump SO much in!
• A slow cooker like this one, from Target (about $30) works great

It would be extra good with vanilla ice cream, and if you want to get fancy you could use it for filling in mini graham cracker pie crusts (like these).  Also see this easy apple recipe that I tried out last year- Baked Apples Stuffed with Ice Cream