Apple Pomegranate Crisp

For this recipe, I used Michigan apples. They were great. Not too sweet, not too tart. I often steer away from apples because they're just too sweet to me.  These were so yummy.  So use whatever apples you like, just take a nibble to adjust the sugar level. You may not need as much sugar as I used, or you may need more.


Toasted and chopped walnuts would be awesome in and/or in the topping, but I forgot to add them. lol

But don't forget the FRESH lemon. It adds such a great tang to things, as well as keeping your apples from browning as you get everything ready.


Preheat oven to 375 degrees and butter a 8x8 glass baking dish.

Filling:
 
5 -6 cups peeled and sliced apples (this doesn't take as many apples as it sounds like it does)
juice of 1/2 lemon, about 2-3 Tablespoons
1 whole pomegranate, seeded (put whole pom in deep bowl of water, cut, pull apart, and pop out pom seeds under water to avoid the messy staining. Also, the membranes and bad seeds float to the top and you can skim them off, then drain all the good seeds.)
small handful of golden raisins (1/2 cup, more or less if you like)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
pinch of kosher salt

Topping:

1 cup of flour
1 cup oats
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup of butter (8 Tablespoons or one stick), room temperature, but not soggy, and cubed
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch fresh grated nutmeg
pinch kosher (coarse) salt


Peel, core and slice the apples thin.
Keep sliced apples in the lemon juice in a big bowl while you peel and slice them, to keep them from browning.
Add the rest of the filling ingredients to the sliced apples, mix well, and spread evenly into the greased baking dish.

Prepare topping: Whisk together in a small bowl, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar until all are thoroughly combined.
With a fork, add cubed butter to the flour mixture until the dry ingredients are crumbly. 

Like this. :)

Spoon topping evenly over apple mixture and pop into the oven, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes. Turn off oven and let sit in the oven for about 10 more minutes with the oven door ajar.
Take out of oven and let sit for about 10 more minutes.

When the torture is over, serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.  Fantastic!
(the pomegranate seeds will stay crunchy)