Applelicious

My neighborhood used to be an apple orchard so there are leftover trees scattered here and there (and a whole bunch of confused deer wanting to know what happened to their winter food source). We had a bumper crop of apples a few years ago. The Man got all domestic and decided to make apple pie filling. Seriously. He made it, I just watched (and mocked). So we have lots and lots of apple pie filling in the basement. But...we don't particularly like apple pie. Interesting situation. What to do with all that filling...?

I may not like pie, but I love apple crumble! But it has to be a certain type...not just any recipe will do, which basically means I haven't had a "good" apple crumble in years. Most recipes you find don't call for apple pie filling. I guess that's cheating or something. Then I got a promotional email from Betty Crocker (she's kinda like my drug dealer) with all sorts of apple recipes. The featured recipe? Southern Apple Crumble. It was a simple enough recipe. Then Baby began demanding that I make it. Alas, I didn't want to chop up all those apples...maybe the pie filling would work? I made it for dessert yesterday. It was goooooood! Got seals of approval from Aunt Denise and the Co-ed, too. We consumed mass quantities while having a Girls' Night and watching "Stardust."

So here's the recipe:

Cheater Apple Crumble
1 large jar apple pie filling that you're husband canned and was very, very proud of himself for making so you can't just give it away, even though neither of you care for apple pie. (approx. 3 cups)
1/4 cup cold butter, cut into little cubes
1 pouch Oatmeal Cookie Mix
1/2 cup melted butter

Combine apple pie filling and cold butter. Spread into greased 8-inch square pan.
Combine cookie mix and melted butter. Sprinkle over top of apples.
Bake at 325 for 40 minutes or until the delicious smell fills your kitchen and you can't resist any longer. Serve warm. (I highly recommend serving with vanilla ice cream but all we had was neopolitan so we had ours "naked.")
Hide leftovers from your children and eat them for lunch the next day.

Keep in mind that this is my version of the recipe, for high altitudes and lazy housewives. The original called for pecans but I didn't feel like chopping nuts so we left those out. I'll probably add them back in next time. Enjoy!