Last updated on September 19th, 2021
Here’s the printable recipe from the “Apple Crisp 1950 Recipe” video that was recently published on YouTube. Click here to watch the episode, and to learn why, even to this day, I associate the scent of baked apples with my very first piano lesson.
In 1950, a “crisp” or “crumble” was a humble dessert, composed of minimal ingredients. No rolled oats. No brown sugar. No bounty of spices. The apples were simply dusted with cinnamon and then topped with a fantastically-crisp streusel. The streusel is both easy and fun to make. You simply mash — with clean fingers! — flour, sugar, and butter together until they turn crumbly. The final product is delicious indeed. It is the best apple crisp I’ve ever encountered.
What apples to use in a crisp? I used ‘Gala’ apples when I filmed the aforementioned video. A few days later, I made the same dessert with ‘Honey Crisp.’ Both varieties produced a screamingly-delicious apple crisp. Feel free to use any apple variety you like. Green, yellow, and multi-toned apples are all excellent choices for baking.
I hope you will give this old-fashioned Apple Crisp a try. Perhaps it evoke some pleasant childhood memory for you.
This recipe is adapted from the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook (published 1950). I have not altered “Betty’s” list of ingredients. The directions, however, are told in my own words.
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Apple Crisp (1950 Recipe)
Equipment
- A baking dish that measures approximately 10x6x2-inches
Ingredients
- 4 cups apple slices (from approximately 4 peeled and sliced apples)
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Put the apples in the baking dish, and sprinkle them with the water, salt, and cinnamon.
- Put the flour, sugar, and butter in a medium bowl. With clean fingers, mash the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Pile the mixture over the apples.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the topping colors and crisps -- 40-50 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before serving. The topping will continue to crisp up during cooling. Serve with or without whipped cream or ice cream.
Looking for other apple recipes? I’ve got a million of ’em! Here’s just a sampling:
shirl stepp says
Absolutely the BEST Apple pie I every made!!! So easy and I substituted the sugar w/splenda, added a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar….just so sweet and delicious. I also used more cinnamon, along w/dash of cloves & nutmeg. Thank you so much for this fast and easy apple pie that Anyone! can make.
Mary Furr says
Made this recipe with peaches last night, and my husband loved it. Cut back on the salt by putting 1/4 tsp over the peaches and 1/4 tsp in the flour mix. As we always have a scoop of frozen yogurt with our cobbler, I also cut back the sugar to 3/4 cup. I looked up the cobbler recipe in my 1970s Betty Crocker cookbook, and they had made the recipe more complicated by first cooking the fruit in a cornstarch syrup. The 1950s version is simpler and just as good, in my view!
Mary Furr says
Forgot to give it a 5 star rating!
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Shirl – I’m so glad you enjoyed the crisp!
Hi Mary – Your peach version: YUM. After 1950, recipes in the Betty Crocker cookbooks became more…sophisticated. Hence the “extras” in terms of ingredients and steps.
jackie serba says
Hi Kevin, I now want to run out and get apples..What kind do u use?? This is the only recipe I have ever used.. why ruin a perfectly good recipe by switching it up..
Tonya says
Hi Kevin. I have that same cookbook. It was my mom’s. Best Apple Crisp, Apple Pie, Bisquits and Peanut Butter Cookie recipes. I have so many cookbooks and always fall back on that one or my Gaslight from the 40’s. I think of my mom when I make this.
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Jackie – In the video, I used ‘Gala’ apples from the local orchard. Afterwards, I made the same dessert with ‘Honey Crisp.’ Just about any apple variety will work in this recipe.
Hi Tonya – I agree with you — the 1950 Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook is uniquely wonderful!
Diane says
What a wonderful Recipe!! Thank you for sharing!
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Diane – My pleasure. Thank you for commenting!
Chip Barkel says
I just made it and am waiting for it to cool a bit. I wanted to post a photo but see I cant.
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Chip – Thanks for emailing the picture…your crisp looks fabulous! Eat half of it for me!
Sandy Betts says
This is a great recipe. I’ve been making it for years! I like to mix up the apples. Mcintosh, granny smith, gala. It is always a hit, especially with a little vanilla ice cream on top
Sarah S. says
This is the same recipe my husband gave me and made for years, taken from “Betty Crocker’s Cook Book for Boys and Girls” (copyright 1957). We still have the book and now that fresh apples are in season, I will be making this delicious recipe very soon!
Judy says
I have this in the oven as we speak. My motto is — simple, simple, simple. I have a recipe box full of complicated, time-consuming recipes that I never use anymore. I love how you make it simple and delicious and I am sure this one will be as good as all the others from you. Keep them coming.
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Judy – I agree — sometimes the simplest recipes are the best recipes. Hope this 1950 Apple Crisp turns out deliciously for you!
Bonnie says
A lovely, classic fall treat. Thank you for this version, Kevin. My four apples actually measured out at 5 1/2 cups, which was fine. I had actually reduced the salt to 1/2 teaspoon, and it was still detectable! I guess our lighter salt usage these days has finally sunk in with me, or at least with my palate, although I do still use salted butter. But I have always found oats in a crisp to be an annoyance, not an enhancement, so this no oats version worked well for me. And mine looked like yours, which made me feel successful 🙂
Sarahkate says
Until I saw this, I’d completely forgotten that I’d made this so many times as a teenager years ago, increasingly tasked with dinners and desserts when my mom was getting her business going – and yes I too still have that old Betty Crocker Cookbook, the spine is now fortified with duct tape and some of the pages sport Magic Tape too! If one haunts St. Vinnie’s (my preference in thrifting books as Goodwill doesn’t categorize or alphabetize) one can find at one time or another every old classic cookbook written. My “found” collection includes the very first edition of Joy of Cooking and a reprint of “The Settlement Cook Book” originally written in the late 1800’s and full of intriguing “receipts” for such things as how to make real gelatin (you don’t want to know) and how to dress out game. Back to Apple Crisp – I just bought some MacIntosh apples from local orchard and will be making this perfect autumn night treat. Thank you for a WONDERFUL blog. Please add me to your e-newsletter subscription!
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Bonnie – I’m so glad the crisp turned out deliciously for you. Thank you for the 5 stars!