Apple Streusel Crisp Cups

Look at them with all their luscious buttery cinnamon sugared deliciousness.  I’m warning you now, these are not for the weak willed.  They are portion controlled for a reason.

It all started when I had a craving for coffee cake that lingered in my head for too long and became a bit twisted.  I thought about making the coffee cake for a few hours, then I researched some recipes and never mustered the energy to bake one of those (many dish using) recipes.  My laziness morphed my innocent little craving for a simple small piece of heavily crumbed coffee cake into a maniacal streuseled beast.

For two days I thought about streusel.  I was in deep and I wanted something more intense; coffee cake was no longer my remedy.  My streusel fever could only be cured by something equally deliciously demonic as my craving.  It became clear I needed sweetly fresh morsels of red delicious apples tossed in a splash of orange juice, perfectly baked between layers of rich oatmeal and brown sugar streusel, spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and just a tiny pinch of ground cloves.

They are admittedly and unapologetically two bites of wondrous spiced apple streusel heaven.

Apple Streusel Crisp Cups

• 1 stick chilled butter, cut into pea sized pieces
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• dash of freshly grated nutmeg
• small pinch of ground cloves
• small pinch of ground ginger
• 1  cup old fashioned oats
• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 baseball sized apples, cored and cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice

1.  Prepare for baking:  Move oven rack to top third of oven, preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit and line a 12-cup muffin tin with parchment cupcake wrappers. Place muffin tin on a larger baking sheet for baking.

2.  Make streusel:  Combine butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, oats, flour and sugar into a bowl.   Mix with pastry cutter or your fingers until uniform in texture and crumbly.  You’re done when the mixture sticks to itself when pinched. Reserve about three quarters of a cup of streusel for top layer and then divide remaining streusel evenly among the bottom of cupcake wrappers.  Press gently to create a bottom layer of streusel.

3.  Prepare apples:  Toss chopped apples with orange juice to add flavor and prevent browning.  Add one layer of bite sized apples to each cup.  The cups should be about three quarters of the way filled, now.

4.  Sprinkle remaining streusel evenly over the layer of apples.  Gently press into the apple layer.

5.  Bake in preheated oven for 20-23 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool in the cupcake tin on a wire rack for about seven minutes.  Once cool enough to handle remove cups from tin.  Enjoy warm with ice cream or whipped cream if desired, or chill once the cups are cooled to room temperature for future devouring.

Apple Streusel Crisp Cups

 

Print

Prep time

7 mins

Cook time

23 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

The invention of apple crisp cups are my sick and twisted mind at work: Bite sized red delicious apples tossed with a splash of orange juice, sandwiched between two obscenely thick layers of oatmeal brown sugar streusel which is spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and just a tiny pinch of ground cloves. This recipe eliminates fillers to intensify the best of the best of every cinnamon apple streuseled dessert you could ever possibly imagine. They are admittedly and unapologetically two bites of wondrous spiced apple streusel heaven.

Kate from Scratch: Kate Moran

Recipe type: dessert, breakfast

Cuisine: American

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 1 stick chilled butter, cut into pea sized pieces
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• dash of freshly grated nutmeg
• small pinch of ground cloves
• small pinch of ground ginger
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• ⅓ cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 baseball sized apples, cored and cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice

Instructions

1. Prepare for baking: Move oven rack to top third of oven, preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit and line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake wrappers. Place muffin tin on a larger baking sheet for baking.
2. Make streusel: Combine butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, oats, flour and sugar into a bowl. Mix with pastry cutter or your fingers until uniform in texture and crumbly. You’re done when the mixture sticks to itself when pinched. Reserve about three quarters of a cup of streusel for top layer and then divide remaining streusel evenly among the bottom of cupcake wrappers. Press gently to create a bottom layer of streusel.
3. Prepare apples: Toss chopped apples with orange juice to add flavor and prevent browning. Add one layer of bite sized apples to each cup. The cups should be about three quarters of the way filled, now.
4. Sprinkle remaining streusel evenly over the layer of apples. Gently press into the apple layer.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 20-23 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool in the cupcake tin on a wire rack for about seven minutes. Once cool enough to handle remove cups from tin. Enjoy warm with ice cream or whipped cream if desired, or chill once the cups are cooled to room temperature for future devouring.

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