Apple Crisp with Raisins and Dill Pickle Juice

There’s nothing quite like a slice of warm apple pie to cozy you right into your perfect fall day. This time of year where we are in Michigan, apples are plentiful at all of our markets.

An apple crisp, unlike the pie version, has no bottom crust and uses a crumbly streusel for its topping.

For this recipe, we’ve chosen Golden Delicious apples but many other apples fill the bill including Jonathan, Northern Spy, McIntosh, Rome and so many others.

Using pickle juice / pickle brine, in an apple pie might sound a bit strange but it’s actually taking place of the acidity in the form of lemon juice, which most apple pie fillings contain.

The flavor of the pickle juice (we recommend our Polish Dill or Granny’s Bread and Butter pickle juice) is very mild and pleasant. In fact, some may just love this recipe not even knowing it’s there!

Among the tweaks you can add to this recipe is adding a bit of rolled oats to the Streusel mixture and adjusting the amount of sugar to your likeness.

Apple Crisp with Raisins and Dill Pickle Juice Recipe

Serving Size: Makes 1 – 8” x 10” Casserole Dish

Ingredients:

1/3 cup Great Lakes Pickling Company Polish Dill pickle brine, strained
- Alternative flavor: Granny’s Bread and Butter, Great Lakes Pickling Company
1/2 stick Melted Butter
1/3 cup Cornstarch
1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar
¼ cup Granulated Sugar
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
¼ tsp Salt
1/2 cup Dark Raisins

For Filling:

8 cups Golden Apples, Peeled and Cut into 1” Pieces

For Streusel Topping:

Softened Butter (clay like)
1 ¾ cups All Purpose Flour
¾ cup Light Brown Sugar (or half brown and white sugars)
¼ tsp Ground Cinnamon
Pinch of Salt

Directions:

Prepare our casserole dish by spraying lightly with a non-stick vegetable spray.
Pre-heat your oven to 350°F.
In a medium size mixing bowl, stir/fold together all the filling ingredients, then turn them into the prepared casserole dish.
In a separate mixing bowl, add all the ingredients for the streusel; then, with your hand, compress, then crumble the mixtures ingredients, handful by handful until it resembles a rough chopped mixture. The flour, sugar and butter should all be combined into this crumbled mixture with no signs of white flour.
Crumble this streusel mixture over the apple mixture evenly. Do not press down on it.
Place your casserole dish on a baking sheet in the event there is any spillover of the cooked filling.
Place in a 350°F oven and bake approximately 60 minutes or until the crumbled crust is browned and the juices have thickened and are bubbling around the sides and various other areas of the casserole dish.
Remove to a cooling rack and minimally allow to cool to a warm temperature before serving.