Use Granny Smith, Honeycrisp or gala apples for this comforting autumn dessert.

Over the past couple of months, it’s been hard to be a Southerner. Two significant back-to-back hurricanes paired with once-in-a-thousand-years’ flooding have decimated parts of the South I call home.

I’ve watched in disbelief until I have to turn the news off, and then I turn it back on. Even though I’m not there, my people are slowly climbing out of a catastrophe.

And what else can I do in a calamity? Check on my people, provide the support that I can, and bake.

My mom had a friend in North Carolina who thought the solution to any problem was a slice of Shoney’s strawberry pie. She wasn’t too far off, a baked good can function as a temporary soother.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure if Shoney’s still serves strawberry pie anymore, and although I believe in its healing powers, I don’t think a baked good can build roads, salvage lost memories, or reunite missing loved ones. But it can nourish those who do.

Sometimes all I can do is bake. Comfort bake for myself and for those I’m hurting for. An apple crisp is at the top of the fall comfort baking roster, and it’s a back-home favorite.

Since I can’t feel this for you, let me feel this with you. We’ll get through this, slice by slice.

Apple crisp

Adapted from Southern Living Magazine

Serves about eight

Filling

• 2 pounds of apples (mix of Granny Smith, Honeycrisp or gala) peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick

• 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon corn starch

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Streusel

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the prepared apples, brown sugar, corn starch, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, lemon juice and salt in a medium bowl. Toss to coat evenly. Transfer to a 9-inch greased baking dish.

Stir together flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Add butter and toss gently to coat with flour mixture. Cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter or your fingers until the mixture is crumbly.

Sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over the filling in the baking dish. Bake until apples are tender and the streusel topping is golden brown, about 45 minutes to an hour. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving. Ice cream is a perfect addition.