A cobbler by any other name...

Probably second only to pie, I love cobbler. I'm a sucker for warm cobbler with melting ice cream; it doesn't even matter what it is filled with - ok, maybe not mince meat. But cobblers and their ilk have many different names, depending on the part of the country, the ingredients and the cooking method. Check out the interesting info at What's Cooking America to find out the exciting differences between cobblers, buckles, slumps, pandowdy, crumbles, crisps, brown betty and croustades. Me, I'm a crisp and cobbler fan. (For those who won't click links, a crisp has a crumb topping on the baked fruit and a cobbler has a biscuit type topping.)Here's the crisp recipe I made up the other night to go with our Chicken and Dumplings.

Easy Apple Crisp

3 apples - granny smith are nice, but whatever you have on hand, peeled and sliced
1/2 stick of butter, 1 tablespoon for buttering pan
1 c sugar
1/2 lemon for juice and zest
2 tsps cinnamon
pinch of Allspice
1/4 cup flour
1 cup oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
two pinches of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice your apples, squeeze the lemon over the slices and grate some zest into the mix. Add 1 cup sugar, pinch of salt, 1 tsp of cinnamon and pinch of allspice; toss. Butter your baking dish (a shallow gratin dish works well) and place apple mix inside. In a separate bowl, mix oats, flour, sugar, one pinch of salt, 1 tsp of cinnamon. Pour topping on apples. Cut your butter into small chunks and dot the top of the crumb mix. Place your dish in the oven and bake for 40 minutes. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.