Apple inspirations
As summer begins to fade and the first signs of fall arrive, certain recipes have a way of bringing warmth into the kitchen long before the weather changes outside.
For Chris Hartman of Golden Years Homestead, apple crisp is one of those recipes.
“It reminds me of my mother’s rhubarb crisp,” Chris said. “But with a different fruit.”
For decades, the simple dessert has connected Chris to family memories, changing seasons, and the comfort that comes from sharing homemade food with others.
The recipe itself has an unexpected beginning.
More than 50 years ago, when microwave ovens were still new in many homes, Chris and her husband attended a cooking demonstration hosted through Indiana & Michigan Electric Company. Families gathered to learn how to use the new microwave, sample recipes, and take recipe booklets home.
One of those recipes eventually became Chris’s apple crisp.
“That one was probably about 54 years old,” she said of the original cookbook.
Over the years, Chris adjusted the recipe here and there, making it her own. The recipe starts with oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter, mixed together into a crumbly topping layered over apples.
“You get your hands in there,” Chris said with a smile.
Apples have long been part of life for the Hartman family. Chris’s brother-in-law owns Hartman Orchard on Flutter Road near Fort Wayne, where the family grows a wide variety of apples along with fresh apple cider and caramel apples during the fall season.
Because of that connection, Chris has learned that choosing the right apple can make all the difference.
She recommends paying close attention to the type of apples used for baking, noting that some varieties hold their texture and sweetness better than others once they are cooked.
Yellow Delicious and Jonathan apples are among her favorites for baking apple crisp, while other varieties hold up better for pies or sweeter desserts.
Like many favorite recipes, apple crisp carries memories beyond the kitchen itself. Though Chris remembers her mother’s rhubarb crisp fondly, much of her cooking experience came from helping her aunt after she broke her leg years ago.
Today, sharing food remains one of the ways Chris cares for people around her. She recently made apple crisps for women in the community whose husbands had passed away, using apples she already had on hand to create something comforting during a difficult season.
For Chris, recipes are meant to be shared. She describes apple crisp as “a really nice one to share,” both because it is simple to make and because people enjoy it.
When asked whether there were any secret ingredients she preferred to keep to herself, she laughed and said, “No, they can have it.”
That spirit of generosity feels especially fitting in a community where orchards, seasonal recipes, and gathering around food remain part of everyday life. For Chris, apple crisp is more than a dessert recipe passed down and shared over the years. It is a reminder of family, kindness, and the simple joy of making something for someone else.
And sometimes, all it takes is the smell of apples and cinnamon baking in the oven to bring those memories back.
Apple Crisp Recipe
Makes 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients
- 6 cups sliced, peeled apples
- 3/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
- 1/2 cup unsifted all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup brown sugar (packed)
- 1/3 cup quick cooking oats
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- In 8-in. square dish, mix apples and brown sugar.
- With pastry blender, mix flour, brown sugar, oats, butter, and cinnamon until crumbly. Sprinkle over top of apples.
- Bake in oven at 350° for 50 minutes.