A couple weeks ago I paid a visit to a farm stand that boasts a large apple orchard.

My youngest daughter wanted to try her hand at making an apple jelly and wanted my input on the type of apples she should buy; plus, I was planning a trip to Maine and I wanted to take a couple of apple pies along with me.As is typical for me when I visit a place like that, I come home with a lot more than I bargained for. I had enough apples for several pies, and my daughter, who bought more apples than I did, made two batches of jelly, several pies and some apple crisp; then, she had the nerve to leave her remaining apples on my kitchen counter while I was on vacation.My kitchen is smelling strongly of apples, and I needed to find a way to use them before they all started to go bad.What I came up with, for at least a handful of Macouns and Jonathans, was a delicious apple crisp.My regular recipe for apple crisp is very good, and simple enough in a pinch, but I wanted to amp up the flavor a bit so I gave this crisp a bit of a twist. I added maple syrup to the apples and chopped walnuts to the crumbs.According to my husband, this apple crisp is a winner. I thought it was pretty good too, if I must say so myself.The only problem is, I still have an awful lot of apples left. Check out next week's Comfort & Joy column to see what I might do with them.Apple Crispwith a Twist4 cups apples, pared and sliced2 tablespoons pure maple syrup1/3 cup white sugar2/3 cups brown sugar1/2 cup quick oats1/4 cup flour1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts1 teaspoon cinnamon1/2 teaspoon nutmeg1/4 cup butterPreheat the oven to 350 degrees.Spray an 8-inch by 8-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Place apples in the pan and drizzle with maple syrup.With your clean fingers, combine remaining ingredients into crumbs, then pour over top apples, spreading the crumbs to cover.Bake for 45-50 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven.Serve warm with ice cream.