Caramel Apple Crisp

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon pure almond extract (optional)
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened apple juice
• 3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• Pinch of salt
• 4 pounds baking apples such as Golden Delicious, Gala, or Crispin (about 7 large), peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch-thick slices
• 2- to 2 1/2-quart shallow baking dish

Steps

1. With a rack in the middle of the oven, heat it to 375°F. Coat the baking dish with butter.
2. Use a food processor to pulse the flour, sugar, butter, salt and extracts together, stopping when some large clumps have formed.
3. Reserve 1/4 cup of this mixture for the filling. Put the rest of the topping in a bowl and stir the almonds into it.
4. Place the sugar in a dry, heavy 2-quart saucepan over moderate heat and leave it undisturbed until melting starts. Keep cooking, stirring now and then with a wooden spoon, until the melted sugar becomes a deep-golden caramel.
5. Take the pan off the heat before carefully adding the apple juice, butter and salt; the caramel will harden and give off vigorous steam. Return to moderately low heat and stir as it cooks until the caramel dissolves.
6. Toss the apples in a large bowl with the reserved topping mixture and the caramel. Spread them in the baking dish, which will be very full.
7. Scatter the topping over the apples in clumps; where needed, squeeze small handfuls together to make those clumps.
8. Bake for about 1 hour, until the apples are tender and the surface is golden and crisp. Let the crisp cool until warm or at room temperature.