Sister's Apple Crisp

This recipe is from one of my dearest friend's mama from my well-worn copy of "The Friendship Collection" created for the members of University of Southern Mississippi-Gulf Coast Elderhostels. Wanda passed recently, but she'll live on as long as I do, through her generosity of spirit, her love and her recipes! This one is her Sister Frances' Apple Crisp. I do use it with fresh apples but I also have used it successfully for a decade with frozen fruits too. Straight from the bag without defrosting. I just throw them in frozen and it works BEAUtifully.  Another good'un is to use this mixture and these spices and chop up some crystallized ginger in to them and place that over BlueBerries for a nice refreshing bite in your mouth.

The greatest thing about this recipe is you can throw dinner on the table, pop this in the oven and it'll be ready by the time you're done.

SISTER'S APPLE CRISP

by Wanda Jackson, God rest her soul

"Peel and slice apples to fill an 8 inch square pan. Sprinkle the following mixture over apples and bake at 400 for about 30-40 minutes.  Blend in to a crumble mixture and spread over apples. Serve warm.

NOTE:  My nephew, Billy, is an apple grower in North Carolina and very generously shares his delicious harvest with his Mississippi kin, so we get to try many apple recipes.

3/4 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 stick "oleo" (i use butter, please note below)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
(I use 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon allspice and a 1/4 teaspoon of cloves, but that's just me)"

Now, I got this recipe from my bestest friend, her son Jay, and I tried to make this, unsuccessfully, for years. I don't know if you know about this, but there's a Southern viciousness that you either leave an ingredient out or you don't tell quite the whole truth when you pass on a recipe. I tried everything I knew to do with that stick of butter. I made that crumble mixture with it, I melted it and poured it over the top ... I begged Jay once to watch me make it once and h e LAUGHED and laughed. What's meant to happen is, you mix all that mess together WITHOUT the butter, you spoon that mixture all over the top of the fruit, and then you SLICE-uh the butter in to pats and place them all over the top of the pan.

You may want to cut the sweetness of this recipe by serving it over French Vanilla Ice Cream.

Say a little prayer for Wanda and her family every time you enjoy it. Please.