St. Crispin's Apple Crisp

October 25th is the historical feast of Sts. Crispin and Crispinian, brothers who evangelized France in the middle of the third century. Even though they hailed from Roman nobility, they worked as simple shoemakers by night and preached the gospel during the day.

We will be celebrating the day with an apple crisp in memory of these cobblers. (Pun so totally intended!) Have you ever heard of a Crispin apple? It's a cross between a Golden Delicious and an Indo.  It's sometimes called a Mutsu apple so be on the lookout in your produce section! Here's my favorite crisp recipe altered for apples instead of berries but you could use any crisp recipe you like. Try to find some Crispin apples and make it a crispin apple crisp! Or honeycrisp might substitute well, too.

St. Crispin's Apple Crisp

1 C. flour

3/4 C.white sugar

2 Tbl. brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1tsp. plus 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, divided

1 egg, lightly beaten

4-5 C. sliced Crispin apples (Honeycrisp or Golden Delicious if that's all you can find, I won't tell!)

1/2 C. raisins (opt.)

1/4 C. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place apples and raisins (opt.) in bowl. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and brown sugar on top. Toss to coat. Place fruit mixture in a greased 8 inch or 9 inch baking pan.

Combine flour, 3/4 C. sugar, baking powder, salt and 1 tsp. cinnamon. Add egg.; mix with fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle on top of fruit. Drizzle with butter. Bake 35-40 minutes or until top is lightly browned. Serve warm with ice cream or chilled with whipped cream!

Most people's familiarity of either of these two early Christian martyrs is probably from Shakespeare's famous speech in which Henry V inspires his army before battle. You can watch it movingly performed by Kenneth Branagh below: