It's that time of year. Labor Day has passed us by: bring on the apple, pumpkin, and cranberry recipes!
Now when it comes to computers, I'm a Mac girl all the way. Our very first home computer was an Apple IIe, which I thought was pretty spiffy...until I discovered the Macintosh at my friend's house, a couple of years later. Yeah, it was black and white, but it was the coolest thing ever. I bought my first Mac in 1988, and have never looked back.
However, when it comes to cooking, I don't use Macs unless I'm making applesauce (and Macs do make a mighty good applesauce). Because Macintosh apples turn into mush when cooked, hence making wonderful applesauce, they're not the greatest for pies (where Granny Smiths are my apple of choice) or other apple desserts.
There are two camps when it comest to apple crisp: oats vs. no oats. I am on the "no oats, please" side. Don't get me wrong, I'll never refuse apple crisp, but I find that when oats are added, the topping is less...well, crisp. The following recipe is straight out of my dog-eared Fanny Farmer cookbook, circa 1984; it's the first "serious" cookbook I ever bought. They messed with the recipe for baked rice pudding that's in my mom's edition, but the apple crisp is the same, and it's my favorite, bar none.
I think I'm going to try throwing some Craisins (dried cranberries) into this, one of these days. I'll let you know how it comes out.
Apple Crisp
from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Twelfth Edition
5 cups peeled, cored, sliced apples - I prefer Cortlands
1/2 cup water (if necessary - see instructions)
3/4 cup flour
1 cup sugar (white or brown, or a combination thereof; I like light brown)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut in small pieces
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Butter a 1 1/2 quart baking dish, and spread the apples in it. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup water. (If apples are extremely juicy, omit water.)
Combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl or in a food processor. Add butter.
Bowl: With a pastry blender or your fingers, rub butter into other ingredients until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Food processor: Pulse ingredients until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Spread mixture evenly over apples. (I generally don't use all of the topping.)
Bake 30 minutes or until the crust is browned. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
5 spoons thrown:
It's the most wonderful time of the year! Apples and pumpkins are a few of my favorite things, so I'm looking forward to baking my way through your autumn inspired recipes.
I know lots of people like to eat apples out-of-hand (like I might do with a tomato), but cooked and topped with something crumbly, is as far as I am concerned, the best use of an apple. Period.
Apple crumbles and crisps are so perfect this time of year..this sounds great.
This is my favourite apple crisp recipe. My sister's birthday generally falls on or around Canadian Thanksgiving, and instead of making her a cake, we always have had this apple crisp recipe. My mom bought me the Fannie Farmer cookbook for Christmas one year specifically for it! Making it for dessert for dinner tomorrow...the apples are the best for it this time of year!
Thanks for posting this! My mom and I used to use this recipe all the time from her disintegrating fannie farmer cookbook which is now in about 4 pieces. I like to do what you do and do half white suger, half brown suger, but I like to get a little extra crazy and add about 3/4 cup of Oatmeal. It gives it a bit more crunch and makes the sugar (seem) a less concentrated in your mouth. Give it a try!
Post a Comment