This weekend my Aunt Mary Ellen and Uncle Mark came to visit from Louisville! We had a full visit -- they met a few of my friends, we ate more food than anyone should, and we toured all of connecticut. All of it--from the outlet malls to the beach. One of our stops along the way was an apple orchard for apple picking!
The weather was perfect, there were a ton of apples, and we had the orchard to ourselves. We frolicked among the apples, picking out our favorites, and it wasn't until we got to the car that we realized what we had done -- we had bought something like 3 dozen apples. What in the world were we going to do with 3 dozen apples??
Well. It just so happens that I got an email from family friend, Aunt Shelley (who you may remember from the rhubarb crumble recipe), in which she mentioned she had made an apple crisp! I asked for the recipe and she sent it, warning that she found the apples to be too mushy and that she needed to perfect the timing better. Her recipe was great, though -- it calls for one of everything -- 1 cup each of flour, brown sugar, and oatmeal, and 1 stick of butter. How easy is that to remember?
I just reworked it a little bit, cooking the apples first in the dutch oven on the stove to caramelize them a little before finishing them in the oven to brown the top, and adding some stuff I had on hand to the crisp (cinnamon, pecans, drizzling in caramel!).
We may have had the crisp for breakfast this morning, and it was totally fabulous! Although the crisp did help with my apple problem, I still have something approximating two dozen apples in my fridge, so if you have any apple ideas or requests, send them my way!
Ingredients:
7 medium apples (peeled and cored and cut into ½ inch thick wedges)
¼ c granulated sugar
1 c apple cider or juice
1 c flour
1 c brown sugar
1 c oatmeal
1 stick melted butter + 2 T butter (unmelted)
¾ t ground cinnamon (divided)
⅔ c chopped pecans
caramel topping (optional)
Heat oven to 450. Combine flour, brown sugar, oatmeal, melted butter, ½ t ground cinnamon and pecans together. The easiest way to do this is with your hands -- get right in there and smooth.
Toss the apples in the granulated sugar and remaining ¼ t cinnamon.
Bring cider to a simmer in a dutch oven (or a skillet you can put in the oven if you don't have a dutch oven) over medium heat and cook until reduced to ½ c (about 5 minutes).
Transfer the liquid to a bowl or measuring cup and set aside.
Heat the remaining 2 T of butter in the dutch oven over medium heat. Once it's melted, add apples and cook, stirring frequently, until apples soften, about 12 minutes.
Remove from the heat and stir in cider mixture until apples are coated.
Sprinkle the crumble topping over the apples, breaking up any large chunks that may appear. I sprinkled this with some caramel topping, just to be extra sinful.
Bake until the apples are tender and topping is golden brown, about 12-15 minutes.
Cool at least 15 minutes (I know it's hard, but some desserts are worth the wait!) and serve.
What is a dutch oven and how is it different from a normal pan?
ReplyDeleteOh, Dennis. This makes me think we should have a section of the lab dedicated to kitchen equipment. Yay or Nay?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, a dutch oven is a cast iron pot, usually covered in enamel. Dutch ovens have several advantages over traditional pots--they distribute heat better, they're heavier so they hold in steam, and they can go from stove to oven and back again because they don't have any pesky plastic bits.
Dutch ovens are great.
BUT, if you must use a normal pot, it will still be fine. I'd just transfer it to a baking dish before sticking it in the oven.