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An apple brown betty is the ultimate comfort dessert. It is filled with tender apples coated in a brown sugar-spiced crumble. With its warm, cozy flavors, this classic treat captures the essence of fall in every bite.
I love a good apple dessert! I even put together a whole roundup that has them all in one place. We’ve made so many good ones over the years! If you are looking for great fall apple recipes, you should try this easy Apple Dump Cake, this delicious and satisfying Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake, or this stunning Apple Tart.
Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe
- Fall Flavors: Get into the spirit of the fall season with this warm delicious dessert. Apples and cinnamon baking in your oven will have your family begging for more!
- Convenience: You probably already have all of the simple ingredients in your kitchen, making it the perfect dessert to whip up when that sweet tooth craving hits!
- Budget-Friendly: This recipe uses simple ingredients that won’t break the bank! Your family, both young and old, will absolutely love this warm apple dessert!
Ingredients
This apple brown Betty recipe is so easy to make, and it uses simple ingredients that you probably have on hand! It’s similar to an apple crisp, but it doesn’t use oats in the topping. It’s a great recipe to share with family and friends! You can find the exact measurements below in the recipe card.
- Apples: I love Honeycrisp and Granny Smith apples for this recipe. You can use your favorite apple. The most important thing is how you prepare, peel, and slice the apples.
- Lemon Juice: This helps to bring out the apples’ fresh flavor and brightens up the whole dish.
- All-Purpose Flour: This goes on the top to make a crumble instead of using oats.
- Granulated Sugar: Sugar helps to make the sticky gooey topping we all love.
- Brown Sugar: Brown sugar has molasses in it, which gives it a nice deep flavor.
- Ground Cinnamon: It’s a must in this recipe! It is the perfect fall flavor and goes great with apples.
- Nutmeg: This spice is a little sweet and full of flavor.
- Allspice: It is actually just from one plant, but it tastes like all of your favorite fall spices combined!
- Cardamom: It’s fruity with a little kick, and I love it in this recipe!
- Salt: A little salt helps to balance out the sweetness and bring out all of this dessert’s delicious flavors.
- Butter: Use unsalted butter and make sure it’s cold! You want it cold when you put it into the food processor to help it crumble.
Apple Brown Betty Recipe
Prepping the apples for baking is a bit of a labor of love, but it’s SO worth it! If you have one of those apple peelers-corers-slicers, you could definitely use that here to move things along. Other than that, this recipe is a breeze and so fun too!
- Prep: Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and lightly grease a baking dish (I used a standard pie dish) with nonstick spray or butter.
- Add Lemon: In a bowl, pour your lemon juice over your apples and mix to coat well.
- Pulse: In a food processor, pulse your flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cardamom, and salt until it’s well-mixed.
- Add Butter: Start pulsing in your cubed butter, about one tablespoon at a time, until it is all incorporated. No chunks of butter should remain,
- Layer: In your baking dish, layer ½ of your apples on the bottom, ½ of your crumb mixture on the apples, then your remaining apples on top of the crumb mixture, and finally, the last of your crumb mixture on top.
- Bake: Bake for 40-50 minutes. Your apples should be tender, and your crumbs will be crisp and golden brown.
All About the Apples!
If you are wondering what kind of apples to use and how many to buy, read on!
- Best Apples: You will want to use apples that are best for baking, such as Honeycrisp, Granny Smiths, and Pink Lady. I personally love Honeycrisp, but Granny Smiths are usually what I have on hand, so I’ve used those more than once!
- How Many Apples to Use: Four cups of sliced apples is about five to six large apples. I used five in this recipe. What’s most important is that you have apples in every bite, so if you have to eyeball it, that works, too!
Tips for Making Apple Brown Betty
This recipe is really simple and easy. You’re going to love the flavors in this dish! Here are a few tips to get the most out of this recipe.
- Spice Blend Options: You can use any spices you like in this recipe! I love making homemade spice blends, so I’ve tried Pumpkin Pie Spice and Apple Pie Spice. They were both delicious! To substitute the spices in this recipe for a spice blend, you can just leave out the spices in this recipe and add about a tablespoon of your spice blend.
- How to Prepare the Apples: It is important to prep the apples in a similar size so that they all bake evenly. If you have really thick slices and really thin slices, the thin ones will get mushy, and the thick ones will be hard. If you have an apple peeler-corer-slicer, you could use that. Just make sure you pull them out of the oven before they get overcooked. The thin slices will cook faster!
- Baking Dish: You can use a pie dish or a 9×9-inch pan. It doesn’t need to be a certain shape to bake evenly. The most important thing is to prepare the apples correctly, and it will turn out great no matter what dish you use!
- Topping Options: Once baked, top it with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Storing Leftovers
- This apple brown betty makes awesome leftovers! It’s so easy to reheat, and the gooey crumble just gets, well, gooier!
- In the Refrigerator: Store your leftovers in an airtight container or covered with plastic wrap in the fridge. It will stay good for up to five days.
- To Reheat: Just pop it in the microwave until warm and enjoy! You can eat it cold too, but I prefer it warmed with some vanilla ice cream.
Other Fall Desserts to Try
I love all things fall! The weather, the leaves, the colors, and of course the food! Soup and baked goods have my heart. If you can relate to all of that, then these recipes are for you! You’ll love the fall spices and warm flavors in these desserts.
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Apple Brown Betty
Ingredients
- 4 cups apples peeled cored and thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup brown sugar packed
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon cardamom
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup cold butter cubed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375℉ and lightly grease a baking dish (I used a standard pie dish) with non stick spray, or butter.
- In a bowl pour your lemon juice over your apples and mix to coat well.
- In a food processor pulse your flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cardamom, and salt until it’s well mixed.
- Start pulsing in your cubed butter about 1 tablespoon at a time until it is all incorporated. No chunks of butter should remain,
- In your baking dish, layer ½ of your apples on the bottom, ½ of your crumb mixture on the apples, then your remaining apples on top of the crumb mixture, and finally the last of your crumb mixture on top.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes, your apples should be tender and your crumbs will be crisp and golden brown.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can you substitute other fruits successfully?
I haven’t tried other fruits with this recipe before!
Apple Betty in this recipe didn’t have oats why not
Hi! I didn’t use any in this recipe but feel free to change it up how you like!
wow, had never heard of this but I love it, and yes, I’m happy to skip oats anytime, love the lemon juice too, brown sugar, yes, let’s face it, all ot these flavors are wonderful, thank you