This recipe was originally published in my cookbook …And Their Tummies Growled.

Savory Apple Crisp

This recipe makes 6 side-dish sized servings.

6 cups baking apples, cored, peeled and sliced into ½ inch slices
½ tsp thyme
½ tsp granulated garlic
½ lb bacon, cut into pieces no larger than ¼ inch
1 medium onion, diced into pieces no larger than ¼ inch
1 stalk celery, sliced thin
¾ cup all purpose flour
½ tsp thyme
¼ tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp sugar
1 stick (8 tbsp) butter, chilled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Put the apples, thyme and garlic into a very large bowl, and stir to mix.

Cook bacon in a frying pan on medium high until the bacon is starting to turn crispy. Drain off most of the bacon fat in the pan. Put the onions and celery in the frying pan, stir until everything is well mixed, and cook, stirring occasionally, until you can cut the onion with a wooden spoon.

Pour the bacon mixture over the apples and mix well.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, thyme, pepper and sugar. Cut the butter into pieces, add it to the flour mixture, and then use a pastry cutter, two knives, or your hands, to cut the butter into the flour mixture until it looks like brown sugar, and no pieces of butter are larger than a small pea.

Add the flour and butter mixture to the apples and stir until everything is mixed well. Transfer everything into a deep, eight cup baking dish and bake for 50 – 60 minutes, or until the apples are soft (stick a knife into the dish and you feel no resistance).

Let sit for at least 15 minutes before serving.