September 2, 2006

Glorious Apple Crisp

My sister, Ginny, is sleeping over tonight with her 3 youngest kids. Her husband and the 2 older boys are out of town on a wakeboarding trip to celebrate their eldest's 12th birthday. Happy Birthday Diego! :) I love it when her kids visit and most especially when they sleep over. It's always a celebration of youth. The house comes alive with happy noise reminding me of how it was when all my siblings still lived at home.

When I was much younger, my older sisters would sometimes spend hours baking in the kitchen. I remember watching as they made polvoron (powdered milk candy), blueberry cheesecake, flan, banana bread, oatmeal cookies or tapioca puddings. Most of which they learned from our abuelita (grandma). I loved every minute of it - from tagging along as they shopped for ingredients, being mesmerized by the whirring and swirling of the mixer, feeling important and proud as I helped pour in the milk slowly, and my most favorite part of all, licking the spoon or spatula! Those are some of my fondest memories. So commonplace yet so meaningful.

Tonight we relived those days. (Although instead of my other sister Lilibeth who has since moved to Canada, my niece Bea joined us). Same fundamental tradition, same kitchen. The walls may have been painted a different color, but they still held the divine secrets of our sisterhood. ( oh stop your groaning, I'm allowed to be corny sometimes!) :)

Anyhoo, Ginny was so intrigued by Glo's Apple Crisp which I mentioned in my post about Lori's baking demo she suggested we try and make it together. She didn't need to twist my arm! She brought the apples and we went to work immediately after dinner. She peeled the apples while I made the crumble topping. I then chopped what she peeled, as she prepared the rest of the ingredients to be mixed with the apples. Bea was distracted by the TV, but she would come in every now and then to check on our progress and see how she could help. The recipe was so easy though, that there really wasn't much to do. So I think she got a bit bored and decided to come back when it was ready.
Which was one hour later. Ginny watched me take my first bite then asked, "So are your knees weak again?". I didn't answer, I just closed my eyes and savored the flavors in my mouth. God, it was gooooooood! After seeing the look of pure ecstacy on my face, she shoved me aside to get her own plateful. Her reaction mirrored mine. We didn't even bother with the vanilla ice cream. Maybe next time.

I have decided to give it my own name: Glorious Apple Crisp, in honor of the sweet lady who generously shared her aunt's recipe with me. :) Thank you again, Glo!

Ingredients:

Apple Mixture
5-6 Fuji apples, peeled & cut into wedges
2/3 C brown sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven at 325F.
Mix & gently toss the apples, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon & vanilla. Set aside until the apples give off their juices for about 10 mins.
Transfer the mixture to a square baking pan.

Topping:
1 stick butter, unsalted

11/2 C brown sugar
1 tsp salt
11/3 C all purpose flour

In a bowl, mix together the butter, sugar, flour & salt. Don't overblend. Grab a handful & squeeze tightly to compress into a solid piece. Then crumble it into small pieces on top of the apple mixture. Repeat with the remaining topping.

Bake for 1 hour or until brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream.




Can you tell she loved it too? :)



BTW,I think it's funny that my nephews/nieces have taken to calling me Tita (aunt) Crisp now instead of Tita Chris. :)

28 comments:

Cate said...

Perfect timing! We're going apple picking this weekend ... one more recipe to try out. ;)

Anonymous said...

Looks like a good, simple crisp...which are always the best.

briliantdonkey said...

I am glad you posted this. Otherwise I would have had to ask you for it. Otherwise, I would have to admit my mistake. Otherwise, I would have to tell baout checking my emails for the first time in two weeks and clicking next, delete , next delete over and over to get thru the junk. I saw yours long enough to see the title but pushed delete before my mind caught up to my fingers. Otherwise, I would have to do all that again.

Glad I dont.

BD

christine said...

Hi Cate! Let me know how you like it. Have fun apple picking. :)

Hi Peabody, thanks for dropping by! Yes, this one is basic, simple, and one of the best I've ever tried. I'll trade you some for your mousse. :)

Hey BD, I know you like apple desserts so I'm pretty sure you'd love this. It's pretty hard to mess up, however it won't bake itself, so don't forget to actually turn ON the gas or plus your oven! ;)

briliantdonkey said...

oh you are a funny funny woman!

wysgal said...

What a novel idea --- baking together as a great alternative to the typical nail-painting, face-mud masking, and hair-curling that goes on during "slumber parties." Nice you were able to make it this morning, even though you were a little "hungover" from your late night bake-fest. =)

christine said...

I meant to say "plug" your oven on my last comment, but of course you knew that. ;)

Hi wysgal! I wouldn't have missed a breakfast get-together and that book fair for the world. Ginny had a nice time as well. Thanks again for the caramel Bailey's! Haven't tried it yet though. :)

SeƱor Enrique said...

Ahhh ... this looks really good!

This could also be a filling to a pie, no?

Anonymous said...

for the topping, is the butter supposed to be melted or should i just cut it into cubes straight out of the fridge? will definitely make one this weekend! :)

christine said...

Eric, definitely! It's like a French Apple Pie sans the crust on the bottom.

Anonymous, I used cold but softened butter. It's funny you should ask though, I just bookmarked a post I read this morning which I was directed to from Simply Recipes.

The URL is http://www.kqed.org/weblog/food/2006/07/crisp-topping-all-year-round-fruit.jsp. Here's an excerpt I found interesting:

"The signature difference in this recipe is that the butter is melted. What this means is that the crisp topping actually crisps in the oven because the fat source has permeated every grain of flour and sugar. The preparation of cutting cold butter into flour, as is the case in many crisp topping recipes, creates a topping that melts into the fruit juices, therefore producing a gooey, unbaked layer of flour-butter-sugar lumps between hot fruit and still tender topping."

Ana said...

she's a cutie pie. and so is the apple crisp.

Watergirl said...

The french food stall at the Salcedo Market does a mango crisp/crumble that is pretty good, you think it would work with the recipe you used with some tweaking?

I have another foodie friend who is game for our possible eggs benedict/Pampanga trip. We have to talk!

Unknown said...

OMG, that picture of her is adorable!

christine said...

Hi Ana, thanks and I have to agree! :)

Mila, I'll have to try that, don't know why I never noticed it there before. I love mangoes! I'm sure it'll work. You can use practically any filling, just like with a pie.

Garett, I think so too! :)

Didi said...

Hi Christine! The Apple Crisp was really GLOrious!! Good thing Glo was nice enough to share her recipe to you and eventually to us!

Yours look mouthwatering too!! :)

Nice to have met you and Joey!

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Wow! The very same day I left a comment on your previous post, you did bake the apple crisp I requested you to share with us all. Thanks so much! Will definitely try this over the weekend. Oh what a pretty little girl yo've got! Yes, she seems to love the apple crisp. *-*

Anonymous said...

Wish I could have slept over to try some of that apple crisp!

You have a beautiful blog!

christine said...

Hi Candishhh! It was really nice to have met you and Jen too! I'm sorry I didn't have time to chat, right before I met you I received some bad news and will still a little in shock then. Hope I get to see you again in future events/demos. :)

Hi Elna, your timing was perfect! We really had plans of making it on Friday when you asked. :) It was fate! hehe That's my sister's little girl, wish I could take the credit for her cuteness. :) Thanks!

Hi Ivonne, thank you very much! Wish I could wire a slice for you through the blogosphere. :)

Randi said...

Yummy, perfect for the upcoming fall weather.

Anonymous said...

Hey Christine,

Just checking out your blog for foodie updates, heh. You know my nieces & nephew call me "Tita Crisp" too. Funny. I think it's more appealing to them than "Tita Christina". Sometimes I'm "Tita Crispy."

Lori said...

Apple crisp was the first dessert I taught myself when I was a newlywed -- almost 9 years ago! It's homey and satisfying and still as good now as it was then.

christine said...

Hi Christina! You just made me realize that I've become a delinquent "bootie". I need to get my butt back into the forum right away. What a coincidence that they call you Tita Crisp too! haha.

Lori, it really is so homey and so comforting. I don't know why I've never tried making it before.

Anonymous said...

hi christine...happy to read about this...ate glo's my cousin & i'll fwd her this link, she would love to read your post re the apple crisp! I agree it's really good! thanks!

christine said...

Hi LM! Yes, please send this to her so she knows how much we appreciate her for sharing the recipe, thank you. And thanks, Ate Glo! :)

globelines said...

Hi! I'm happy to share the recipe. Thanks for giving it a beautiful name.

christine said...

Glo? You're most welcome! :) Thank you again for sharing.

Unknown said...

I have tried to serve this with my family and they loved it. Thanks for sharing this. I served it with a double dutch ice cream cause that's their favorite ice cream and it's a block buster!

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