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Recipe Relics
As spring approaches, I’m trying to use up the remaining storage fruits and vegetables in the larder. There were still a few last apples, so I made my favorite apple crisp recipe. My sisters call this Betsy’s Amazing Apple Crisp, but it’s actually my friend Sue’s Amazing Apple Crisp.
Food is something I have always shared with friends and family. When I pulled out this recipe I had to smile at the ancient recipe album where it lives. This book “Betsey Clark Recipe Album” (a different Betsy) from Hallmark has an inside cover inscribed with my name, Christmas, 1973. I would have been in the seventh grade. The recipe cards stashed in this album tell the story of my friends and family, and my food tastes, from that time until some time in my early post-college working days. Each recipe has a connection to my family or to my friends. It’s a history book of sorts. A Betsy History.
The first set of cards, all written in a rounded, immature, girlish print, are recipes for cookies and cakes, my earliest kitchen experiments. The recipe for the oatmeal cookies that I still make today is on this first page.
The next page of cards progress through various appetizers and entrees with a scattering of more baked goods, primarily recipes from my mother and my high school friends’ mothers.
The next three pages take me through my college years. I lived in a dormitory for four years, but we had kitchens. I cooked meals for myself and many meals with and for friends. Almost each recipe comes from a friend. and has an associated memory. There’s my freshman roommate’s Pennsylvania Dutch chicken corn soup, Mike’s famous Congo squares, Linda’s pizza dough, and Mary Kay’s chicken and wild rice casserole.
There are also many, many fruit desserts, the aftermath of many fruit picking adventures with friends. We returned with a haul that we needed to eat. The best of these is Sue’s Amazing Apple Crisp.
The brilliance in this recipe is the double topping (always the best part of a fruit crisp). Half is mixed into the fruit, and the other half sprinkled on top. Each bite has plenty of crisp along with the melting fruit. For a change, I have sometimes made this with almonds, pecans, and even pumpkin seeds, instead of walnuts. They are all equally delcious! This recipe never fails to impress all eaters.
Sue’s Amazing Apple Crisp
Servers 8
Topping:
1 cup sugar
1½ cup flour
¾ cup butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup chopped walnuts
6 apples
½ cup sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cloves
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Preheat oven to 350F.
Make the topping: Combine 1 cup sugar with the flour. Cut in the butter (using pastry blender or your fingers) until the mixture is crumbly. Add the walnuts.
Peel, core, and slice apples. In a large bowl, toss the apples with ½ cup sugar, cinnamon, loves, and lemon juice. Add half the topping to the apples and combine. Transfer to a 1½ quart baking dish.
Sprinkle the remaining topping on the apple mixture.
Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until topping is browned and apples are bubbly.
This recipe doubles well for a crowd.
French Fridays with Dorie: Marie-Helene’s Apple Cake
At lunchtime today, we had our office Halloween party. We had a pizza lunch, a variety of silly games, and a costume contest. I didn’t wear a costume, but wore my sparkly Happy Halloween t-shirt, Halloween socks, an assortment of Halloween jewelry, and a headband with devil’s horns.
Conveniently, we also had a dessert potluck, so I made Marie-Helene’s Apple Cake. Apple cake doesn’t have any chocolate in it, so Howard wasn’t likely to eat any. Bringing the cake for the potluck meant it would get eaten, and not entirely by me. It was popular and the first plate to become empty. A few people asked for the recipe.
I went to Wilson Farm, a local farm stand, and picked up a variety of local Massachusetts apples. I used four different ones, as Dorie suggested. I chose Honeycrisp, Spencer, Empire, and Macintosh. I wasn’t sure my apples were large enough, but I went with just the four. For future reference, I measured, and I had a generous four cups of apple chunks.
I don’t do a lot of baking without electrical assistance, like my food processor or stand mixer. I was a bit uncertain about how foamy the eggs should be. I decided they looked nice and foamy after one minute of whisking. The color was a nice light yellow too. It darkened up when I added the rum, but lightened again with the flour and butter. The batter looked silky after all the butter was mixed in. The raw batter tasted good too. The rum flavor was very noticeable.
I read other comments from people that used a 9-inch pan. Fortunately, I have an 8-inch springform pan, so I made sure to use it. The batter filled the pan fully, so I felt I used enough apples after all.
The cake was nice and brown after an hour, but still hadn’t pulled away from the sides of the pan, so I gave it five more minutes. It still hadn’t pulled away, but it was definitely done. I thought I was generous with the butter, but I think I should have used even more when I buttered the pan. The top of my cake was a beautiful golden brown, and the cake looked incredibly moist. The sides weren’t browned at all. The cake pictured in the book has equally browned sides.
I used the parchment paper trick again to easily transfer the piping hot pan to the cooling rack. I remember doing that when we made the mustard tart a few weeks ago.
The cake came out of the oven shortly before bedtime, so after I removed the springform pan, I let it cool, uncovered, on the counter overnight.
Unfortuntely, I can’t say I was wild about this cake. A few years ago I made The Apple Lady’s Apple Cake from Patricia Wells’ The Paris Cookbook. It was very eggy, almost more like a clafoutis, and I didn’t like it that much. I compared the recipes, and Dorie’s recipe had more flour, more sugar, more fat (butter instead of oil) and no milk, so it seemed like it would be different. It turned out that the two cakes tasted very similar. Today’s cake looked so pretty, but the cake that held the apples together wasn’t cakey enough for my taste. I’m not sure I’ll make it again.
I want to share something I learned from my friend Karen. I do this most times when I make apple desserts. I make sure to wash the apples before peeling. Then, I put the apple peels and the cores into a small saucepan with some water. For the four apples in this recipe, I added 1 cup of water. I bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the apples are mushy. After letting it cool a little, I run the mixture through a food mill, with the blade with medium holes. If you like, you can add a bit of sugar or honey. I get the bonus of a scant cup of applesauce. Even though I compost what doesn’t go through the food mill, I love making the most of the apples with this extra treat.
A Plateful of Happiness 