Old Fashioned Apple Crisp

We eat well at the beach. Anywhere, really, but at the beach especially.

It helps that your internal clock switches to "vacation time" as soon as you come over the bridge into Newburyport. Whether you're there for the night, a weekend, or your summer vacation week, there's something that's just different about time spent on the water.

And, how can food not play a huge role in that, when each day starts with a "committee meeting" to decide on the day's culinary adventure? Most often it's breakfast in (unless someone suggests Mad Martha's...and the wait's not too long), lunch out (but a grilled ham and cheese at home works, too), and dinner in (well...what does the Plum Island Grille have for specials?!). Grocery lists are drafted, reservations made, plans set.

It's a lazy, comfortable, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of time - is it any wonder it's one of my favorite places to be?!

We'll next be there for Easter weekend, and we have a fabulous menu planned.  Can't wait to share it with you!

This apple crisp is by far the best I've ever had. Most crisps tastes pretty much the same to me - not much distinguishes one from the next. Until now. The orange and lemon put it truly over the top. And they aren't just background flavors; they compliment the apples perfectly while standing on their own, as well.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 5 pounds McIntosh or Macoun apples
• Grated zest of 1 orange
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• 2 T freshly squeezed orange juice
• 2 T freshly squeezed lemon  juice
• 1/2 C granulated sugar
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 C flour
• 3/4 C sugar
• 3/4 C light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 C oatmeal
• 1/2 lb. (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9 by 14 by 2-inch oval baking dish.
2. Peel, core, and cut the apples into large wedges.
3. Combine the apples with the zests, juices, sugar, and spices. Pour into the baking dish.
4. To make the topping, combine the flour, sugars, salt, oatmeal, and cold butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the mixture is crumbly and the butter is the size of peas. Scatter evenly over the apples.
5. Place the crisp on a sheet pan to catch any juices and bake for 1 hour or until the top is brown and the apples are bubbly. Serve warm.
 

Apple Galette

I wrote recently about my challenges as a baker. Case in point:  I made this dessert twice on Thanksgiving - not because I needed two of them, but because in the first attempt I underestimated the value of using parchment paper, as instructed. My blunder left me with too-few apples for a second attempt - thanks to my neighbor Maria for coming to my rescue with a couple of apples she had on hand!

The second time was a charm, though, and this was a quick, easy - but equally as tasty - alternative to a traditional apple pie. And it was beautiful! 

This was the first attempt - notice the lack of parchment paper. It stuck like glue to the pizza stone - and I was so sure the stone would make the bottom perfectly crisped, etc. It looked beautiful (and tasted delicious, I have to confess), but couldn't be removed from the stone with anything but a large spatula and a lot of scraping. Not good.

For a dessert, this was my kind of recipe - the woman who wrote it used terms like "about," "around," "some," and "sprinkle." I didn't measure carefully, but this is what I did...

Ingredients:

•  4 apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
• sprinkle of cinnamon
• 2 T brown sugar
• Peel of about a quarter lemon
• Juice of about a quarter orange
• Pinch of salt
• 2 T butter, small diced
• 1 egg, beaten with a splash of water
• 1 prepared pie crust - I used Pillsbury
• Sugar, for sprinkling
• Parchment paper!

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Toss apples in a large mixing bowl with next 5 ingredients, through salt.
3. Line a large rimmed cookie sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
4. Roll out pie crust to about 1/8" thickness.
5. Place pie crust on parchment lined cookie sheet.
6. Pile apples on top of crust.
7. Dot with butter.
8. Fold crust up over the apples - you will not cover all the apples. No need to be fancy, just fold the crust onto itself until all is pulled up.
9. Brush crust with egg mixture and sprinkle all over with sugar. Bake about 35 minutes or until nicely browned.

This is my second attempt right before it went into the oven...again, notice the parchment.