Smoked Bourbon Apple Crisp
Delicious bourbon-infused apples with a crispy, cinnamon-y topping, infused with a subtle smokey flavor thanks to preparing this on your smoker! Such an easy, simple recipe that is bursting with all the fall flavors.
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This recipe is inspired by my brother. Today would have been his 40th birthday, and just a few weeks ago we passed the one year mark since we lost him. As much as I thought I would be filled with things to say about this milestone, I find myself at a loss for words. I find myself just sad.
Grief is funny like that. You can have a dozen happy days, despite the sadness of grief looming over you. You can have wonderful days, days where you feel yourself again and feel joy again.
Then grief hits you unexpectedly.
Sometimes, you aren’t even aware of why you’re having a terrible day or why you’re in a crabby mood. And then you realize, “Oh, today is a milestone on this journey I was forced to take.”
If you are grieving, know that you are not alone. Please be gentle with yourself. Don’t set any expectations for how you will feel. Check in with yourself often, and tend to those feelings—even the bad ones. They will come out eventually, and it’s best to let them out in healthy and productive ways.
Reach out to your people, because community is vital to healing.
As is food. I know we shouldn’t eat our feelings, but if I could, I’d eat this. I make this apple crisp all the time. I know my brother would have loved it. He was a huge apple fan. He didn’t really like cake (although he loved my Greek yogurt cake), but he loved anything apple.
So, here’s to you, Jon. Happy birthday.
Why this recipe works
This crisp is one of my go-to’s (along with the ever quick and easy chocolate tart!). It’s so simple to toss the apple filling, top it with the crumble, and then just let it cook. Both the apple filling and the oatmeal crumble have bourbon, although it is optional in both. The flavor is very, very subtle—enough to make bourbon lovers happy without being overwhelming or tasting “boozy”. The topping is also my all time favorite crisp topping. So simple, and kinda foolproof. It’s full of flavor, and there’s a great texture—both crispy and chewy—thanks to the use of both flour and oats.
The real secret to this crisp is cooking it on a smoker. We use our Traeger, but you can use any smoker you have. If you don’t own a smoker, you can bake (or grill!) this instead. There is a note below for how to do both, as well as how to get that lovely smoked taste without a smoker.
Key ingredients
Apples. I like a mix of tart and sweet apples, but you can use whatever you’d like. My favorites are Jonagold and Pink Lady.
Bourbon. You’ll only use about 1/4 cup in the entire recipe, so feel free to use something you like. This is optional and can be substituted for lemon juice (omit it entirely from the topping—it’s not needed for it).
Vanilla extract. Use pure extract (or even vanilla bean paste!)
Flour. Be sure to spoon then level this, as you don’t want too much flour here.
Cinnamon. Use a high quality cinnamon, for a more vibrant taste.
Brown sugar. You can use light or dark here.
Old fashioned oats. Don’t use quick cook, as those will lose their crisp too easily and create a mushy topping. You can pulse them in a food processor if desired, for a chewier texture.
Butter. Use salted butter, or add 1/8 teaspoon salt if using unsalted butter. Try to use European butter for a better texture.
How to make smoked bourbon apple crisp
1. Peel, core, and slice your apples. You can use a vegetable peeler and slicer and corer or bust out the fancy gadgets. If your apples are small or this is taking a long time, feel free to squeeze a lemon over the apples to prevent browning, but discard before adding the filling ingredients.
2. Mix your apples with the filling ingredients and set aside. Doing this first helps create a perfectly thickened filling.
3. Whisk the dry ingredients for the topping. You can optionally pulse the oats in a food processor, but I like leaving them whole (to save on dishes and also get a more classic crust).
4. Stir butter, bourbon, and vanilla together. This is optional, but I like to do it to get the bourbon and vanilla evenly distributed.
5. Mix butter and dry ingredients. You can stir by hand or use a hand mixer.
6. Pour the apple filling into a greased pie pan or cast iron skillet. If using a smoker (or grill), a cast iron skillet is best to prevent damaging the exterior of a nice pie pan.
7. Crumble the dough on top. Feel free to leave some exposed bits of apple.
8. Bake for 45-50 minutes. This time can vary, depending on your smoker. You want the filling to bubble throughout, so feel free to tent with foil as needed or adjust the temperature if the crisp is browning too fast. Adjusting the temperature is ideal, as tenting with foil will prevent it absorbing the smokey flavor.
9. Let cool at least 30 minutes.
Enjoy with fresh whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
Tips and FAQ’s for this recipe
What if I don’t have a smoker?
That’s okay! You can cook this in an oven at 350F/175C or you can even make this on a grill. A grill won’t give much of a smoked taste, but it is a great alternative if you don’t have (or don’t want to use) an oven. Just be sure to use a cast iron skillet if grilling this, and try to have it on indirect heat if possible. Adjust your grill to keep the heat on low/medium-low.
If you still want that smokey taste without a smoker, you can do one of two things. You could use smoked bourbon. However, I can’t bring myself to use our smoked bourbon, because it’s a nice bottle of Lagavulin. So, if I’m ever unable to use our Traeger, I will add a couple of drops of liquid smoke to the topping, mixing it well with the butter before adding the other ingredients to ensure it’s evenly distributed.
Can this be made ahead?
Yes! I actually started making extra topping, then freezing half of it so I’m always ready to make this on a whim. You can make the topping ahead and keep it in a sealed container or baggie in the fridge up to 2 days. Much longer will actually cause the oats to get soggy, so freeze it if you need to make it more in advance. Once the apples are sliced, they need to be baked or frozen right away, so you could freeze an assembled, unbaked crisp, baking/smoking it from frozen for a little longer (this could take up to 2 hours, depending on your Traeger). Or, what I prefer is to smoke or bake it then keep it refrigerated up to a day or frozen until serving. Reheat in your oven before serving.
Is this safe for kids or pregnant women?
That’s more of a personal choice. The entire recipe has about 2 shots of bourbon, which will be partly cooked out in the baking. Based on the research I’ve done on alcohol cooking out during baking, in the end, each serving has about the same amount of alcohol as a cup of Kombucha. However, this is just a guess and not at all a guarantee. If I’m serving this to children, I usually reduce the bourbon (mostly because I know my daughter will take one “no thank you” bite then only eat her ice cream after that). I’ve never made it with bourbon for pregnant women, just to be safe. You could omit it from the topping and sub lemon juice for it in the filling to be safe.
Butter can be cold, softened, or melted
I like this with softened butter, as it creates an almost cookie-like texture that’s chewy yet crispy. Cold butter will give you that sandy, classic crisp texture, but you’ll have to use a food processor or pastry blender to cut it in. Melted butter, on the other hand, will still make a doughy topping that will crisp up more than what you see here.
What kind of apples should I use?
Any kind will do. Jonagold and Pink Lady are probably my favorites for baking, but they’re not always available at a lot of stores (I usually only find Jonagold/Jonathan apples when we go apple picking). Using a combination of tart and sweet apples is ideal, like Granny Smith and Gala or Honeycrisp. I just don’t recommend Fuji for baking—they turn mushy pretty quickly.
My crisp tools
There’s really not much to this, but here are the tools I love that helped me make this crisp. Affiliate links provided.
Deep pie pan or cast iron skillet
Vegetable peeler and apple slicer and corer (or an apple peeler, corer, and slicer)
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Smoked Bourbon Apple Crisp
- prep time: 15-20 minutes
- bake time: 45-50 minutes
- total time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
servings: 8-12
Ingredients:
for the filling
- 3 pounds apples*, peeled, cored, and sliced
- 2-3 tablespoons (30-45g) bourbon (or lemon juice)
- 1 tablespoon (13g) pure vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (34g) all-purpose flour**
- 1 tablespoon (8g) ground cinnamon
- ½ cup (110g) packed brown sugar
for the topping
- 1 ½ cups (150g) old-fashioned oats
- 1 cup (136g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (220g) packed brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon (8g) ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon (13g) pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (227g) salted butter, softened (if using unsalted butter, add ⅛ teaspoon salt)
- 1-2 tablespoons (15-30g) bourbon (optional)
Instructions:
- Preheat your smoker (or oven) to 350F/175C. Grease a 12” cast iron skillet* (or pie pan) with butter and set aside.
- Peel, core, and slice apples into ⅛” slices. Mix with the other filling ingredients. Note: If the apples start browning as you work, you can squeeze some lemon juice on them, but discard it before you mix in the other filling ingredients.
- To make the topping, whisk the oats, flour, sugar, and cinnamon in a large bowl. In a small bowl, stir the butter, bourbon, and vanilla until combined. Add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients and mix by hand or with a hand mixer until fully combined and crumbles form.
- Pour the apple mixture evenly into your prepared skillet.
- Crumble the topping evenly over the filling, making sure to get all the way to the edges. There’s no wrong way to do this, as long as you drop the pieces gently so as not to press it into the filling.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until the filling bubbles throughout and the topping begins to turn a deep golden brown (this can be difficult to decipher, since the raw dough is already brown, so make a mental note of how light it was when you put it in the oven). If the topping browns too quickly, turn down the Traeger a little or tent your pan with foil (although tenting will prevent it absorbing the smokey flavor).
- Let cool at least 30 minutes before serving, ideally with some vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream!
Enjoy!
Leftovers can be stored, well-covered, in the fridge for 3-5 days. Reheat in the oven or on the grill at 350 for 10-15 minutes.
*The amount of apples you need will vary by your pan. This recipe was written for a 12” cast iron skillet. If you do not have one (or an equivalent sized dish), you can reduce the recipe or split it between two smaller skillets or pie pans.
**If you don’t have flour, you can sub 2 tablespoons cornstarch in the filling but NOT the topping.