Archive for the 'Crumble + Crisp + Cobbler' Category

After a year of eating mangosteens, sugar apples, papayas and pineapples to my heart’s content in Vietnam, the fruits I grew up with have lost their appeal. Over a week ago, I bought a few pounds of apples with the intention of consuming them raw, but found myself avoiding them everyday. Apples go down a lot easier when they’re covered in a sugary and buttery crumble. Problem solved.

For topping

• 6 tablespoons all-purpose or whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and softened
• 3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans

For filling

• 3 pounds Granny Smith and Braeburn apples (6 to 8), cored and cut into 1-inch chunks (peel optional)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Make topping

Mix the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt together. Add the butter and toss to coat. Pinch the butter chunks and dry mixture between your fingertips until the mixture looks like crumbly wet sand. Add the nuts and toss to incorporate. Refrigerate the topping for at least 15 minutes before baking.

Make filling

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix the apples, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest together and place in an 8-inch-square (2 quart) glass or ceramic baking dish or 9-inch deep-dish pie plate. Distribute the chilled topping evenly over the fruit.

Bake until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is deep golden brown, about 40 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Serves 4 to 6.

Adapted from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

Continue reading ‘Apple Crisp’

For cherry filling

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 6 cups fresh or frozen pitted tart cherries (about 3 1/2 pints fresh, picked over)
• 1 tablespoon Frangelico or Di Saronno Amaretto
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

For biscuit topping

• 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Accompaniment: vanilla ice cream

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Make filling: In a large heavy saucepan whisk together sugar and cornstarch. Add fresh or frozen cherries, liqueur, vanilla, and allspice and bring to a boil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally. Simmer mixture, stirring, 2 minutes and transfer to a shallow 2-quart baking dish.

Make topping: Cut butter into pieces. In a bowl with a pastry blender or in a food processor blend or pulse together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. If using a food processor transfer mixture to a bowl. Add milk and vanilla and stir until mixture forms a dough.

Drop topping by rounded tablespoons onto cherry filling (do not completely cover it) and bake in middle of oven 40 minutes, or until topping is golden and cooked through. Transfer cobbler to a rack to cool slightly.

Serve cobbler warm with ice cream.

Makes 8 servings.

Gourmet, July 1997

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Substitutions: For the filling I used only half of the required sugar since these were bing cherries rather than sour cherries, used cinnamon instead of all spice, skipped the liquor all together due to my mormon beliefs. For the biscuits I used whole wheat flour and substituted rolled oats for the cornmeal. I also added in some cinnamon to bring together the cherries with the biscuits.