This apple crisp recipe differs somewhat from most apple crisp desserts. Most will have an incredibly sweet brown sugar, flour, butter, and oat topping. The topping for this one is much more like a biscuit topping.
It is almost more like a cobbler than it is a crisp. But just like a crisp, it is a beautifully autumnal dessert that your family is sure to love.
It is perfect made with the fresh autumn apples which are available at present. But don't let that limit you! It is also delicious made with other Autumn or even Summer fruits!
Why not try it with Peaches or Plums. Nectarines would also work well, as would Pears, Raspberries, Blueberries, or Cherries.
You could even do a combination of fruits. Some delectable ones would be Peaches and Raspberries. Or Peaches and Blueberries. Pear and Apple go very well together, as do a mix of berries. We like it best with apples however.
I like to use a mix of apples if I can. I combine some tart cooking apples with some sweet eating apples. Bramley are the cooking apple of choice over here in the UK. They break down to a nice and fluffy, allmost applesauce texture.
Granny Smiths are tart, (not quite as tart as the Bramley), but tend to hold their shape better when cooked. Sweet crisp eating apples add a special sweetness to the mix. I like Pink Ladies.
Combining more than one kind of apple will give you a mix of tender apples suspended in a thicker sauce. If you use more cooking apples than sweet apples you may want to add a few tablespoons of sugar to the mix so as to prevent it from being too tart.
You can even use canned apples, which makes it that much easier. My first husband came from a farm family. They had dairy cows, sheep, chickens and orchards. They also grew vegetables for the local cannery. That would vary year to year.
One year their fields would be filled with peas, and another it might be beans or even carrots. They also grew their own feed for their livestock.
They grew a variety of apples. A delicious mix of eating and cooking apples. Autumn was always a hive of activity as everyone worked hard to get it all in before the really cold weather arrived.
Nothing was wasted. Even the drops were used. They were sent to the Scotian Gold factory to be made into apple juice or pressed into cider.
My MIL was very good at putting things up of course. Shelves in her cold cellar would be lined with jars of produce she had put up, including apples. There were also bins of fresh apples that, surprisingly, lasted all Winter almost into the spring.
I learnt a lot from Lois about cooking. She was a fabulous cook. Most farm wives are great cooks. They need to be. There were always extra mouths at the dinner table and during harvest season this could add up to quite a few extra mouths.
Quite often labourers would pick and choose where they wanted to work according to the kinds of meals the Farm wife would prepare.
Being a good cook made a huge difference to the quality and quantity of labourers you could and would get!
Lois passed away several years ago at the age of 100, having outlived her husband by a good many years. I have always been very grateful to Lois for all that she taught me about being a good wife and a good cook.
She was no shirker of hard work, that's for sure. She was cooking and crafting right on up into her old age, and with care managed to live in her own home right up to the end.
This dessert reminded me of the kind of dessert she would have baked. It has her name written all over it. Old fashioned. Simple. Delicious.
Because I use a mix of apples, the filling has plenty of texture. There is soft saucy bits of apple and firmer bits of apple, all mixed togther. Quite nice really.
You could make short work of cutting the apples by using an apple corer/slicer. I think, however the wedges it makes would be a bit too thick, so if you use one, cut them in half yet again.
This went down a real treat served warm from the oven with ice cold Vanilla ice cream. I do have ice cream scoops somewhere in two sizes, but do you think I can ever find them when I need them? Nada. Not at all.
That's what happens when you have a chef's kitchen crammed into a kitchen that was not meant to be used by anyone who actually likes to cook. Too much stuff, not enough space, equals a degree of frustration that varies from day to day. I really need to get rid of some stuff.
Things would run a lot smoother if I had less stuff. I keep telling myself that, but then I look at things and can't quite bring myself to part with them, because . . . you guessed it, they might come in handy one day.
Anyways, do make this Apple crisp for yourself. I think you will be pleasantly pleased with the results. Moreishly delicious especially with something cold and sweet spooned over top.
Some other apple desserts you might enjoy are:
QUICK AND EASY APPLE TARTS - Perfect for when you are short on time and yet still want to serve a delicious and impressive dessert!
DUTCH APPLE TURNOVERS - Flaky pastry filled with plenty of apples, sweetened with white and brown sugar, and lightly spiced with cinnamon, freshy grated nutmeg, cardamom and a tiny bit of cloves.
Apple Crisp with Sweet Biscuit Topping
Ingredients:
- 5 large apples, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch thick wedges
- 1 cup (140g) plain flour (all purpose)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (95g) granulated sugar
- 1 large free range egg, lightly beaten
- 4 TBS butter, melted and cooled
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 7 by 9 inch baking dish, or an 8 inch square baking dish. Arrange the apple slices in the baking dish in an even layer.
- Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Stir in the sugar and salt. Add the egg and stir/cut it into the flour mixture with a fork or a pastry blender until crumbly. It should have a mix of wet and dry bits. This is how it should look. Sprinkle this evenly over top of the apples.
- Drizzle the melted butter over top evenly. Sprinkle with the cinnamon.
- Bake for 45 to 55 minutes until the topping is golden brown and the apples are tender with juices bubbling around the edges of the dish.
- Let rest for 20 minutes before serving warm. Spoon out from the dish and accompany with a scoop of cold vanilla ice cream or some pouring cream.
notes:
So the virus is rising again. They say we are into the Second Wave now. I don't know what to think about that. Its a tiny bit frightening to say the least. Stay safe and stay happy! And while you are at it, enjoy some apple crisp! This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
In my quest to downsize my favourite recipes today I have downsized an old recipe for what was called Ten Cup Cookies. They were given that name because they were composed with 10 (1 cup in size) ingredients.
Butter, creamy peanut butter, sugar, brown sugar, flour, chocolate chips, quick cooking oats, shredded sweetened coconut, chopped pecans and raisins. Ten simple ingredients. Ingredients most of us have on hand most of the time.
Oh yes, there are a few other things that you will need to put into a cookie to make it palatable as well. Soda, baking powder, salt, vanilla and eggs. (In the original recipe 2 large eggs, 1 tsp soda and 1/2 tsp of baking powder.
Needless to say the original recipe made a LOT of cookies. Seven dozen to be precise. We do not need that many cookies in this house. No, no, no. They have the awful habit of getting into my mouth and I just don't need that much temptation near me.
I am a person who has very little willpower. Especially when it comes to things like cookies. Especially when those cookies contain things like chocolate chips and peanut butter.
And don't get me started on my love of coconut, toasted nuts, raisins and oats Especially when contained in a delicious buttery crisp edged chewy middled cookie!
These were very popular in my home when I was raising my children. I didn't mind baking them then as I had so many other mouths to help polish them off. Now we are only two.
That many cookies would be dangerous to have around. Oh, I know, you can easily freeze these cookies. I have proven to myself through the years that I like eating frozen cookies just as much as I like eating room temperature cookies. Two words. A LOT
Yes, I am completely incorrigible, and a total and utter glutton. If it was a club I would be the president, as well as the secretary and treasurer!
I do think that I would be joined with more than a few members however. I know I am not alone in my love of all things delicious! This is a club with many, many members.
In any case, I have successfully managed to downsize this recipe so that it makes only 13 cookies. Each one is crisp edged. Each one is buttery. Each one is delicious.
And I hate to tell you this . . . every one is every bit as delicious as the cookies in the original recipe. So they are just as dangerous and just as addictive. The only difference is that there is not as many of them.
Every mouthful brings you a taste of your favourite flavours. You get the savoury edge of peanut butter. The caramel-like sweetness of brown sugar. The rich chocolate chips. The sticky sweetness of raisins.
Combine that with the wholesome nuttiness of oats and coconut, along with the crunch of toasted pecans, and you have a very moreish combination. And its there. In every tasty mouthful.
You could leave out things like the raisins if you don't like raisins. Feel free to substute something you do enjoy. Perhaps dried cranberries or dried sour cherries. (Now that would be good!)
There is no substitution for the oats I don't think, or the coconut. Unless you add additional flour to take up their space, but then I'm afraid you are just messing with science and they won't turn out. So best to just leave them out altogether and see what happens.
You could substute toasted walnuts for the pecans if you wanted to, or even macadamia nuts. You don't have to toast any of the nuts. It is just something I like to do when I am baking with nuts.
Toasting serves to help enhance their nutty flavours and really bring them out. A few minutes on a baking sheet in a hot oven does the trick. Make sure you let them cook before you use them.
Look at how beautiful they are! My trick for perfect round and beautifully sized cookies is to roll them into walnut sized (heaped TBS) balls. I just roll them between my hands.
I have been doing this for years and years. They come out perfectly round every time. No need to squash them down onto the baking sheet. They will spread as they bake.
You do end up with perfectly round cookies, or as close to round as you can get without fiddling with them. I have heard of some bloggers using round cookie cutters as soon as their cookies come out of the oven to knock their cookies into shape.
I don't think it matters if your cookied are perfectly round or not. Perfect roundness does nothing to affect or enhance the real taste of any cookie. In fact I think wonky cookies taste the same as perfectly round cookies.
I suspect this is done more for the sake of the camera than for anything else. And if you are so inclined, then by all means knock your hot cookies into shape.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and we do eat first with our eyes. Maybe there is something to that. Having perfectly round cookies. In any case, I have always rolled my drop cookies into balls and I have always ended up with nice looking cookies, no manipulation needed.
These cookies are incredibly delicious. You get exactly 13 cookies. A baker's dozen as that is often referred to. That hails back to the days when bakers often included one extra item in with your dozen of anything.
I don't think that happens much any more. Perhaps in smaller, family run, bake shops. If I had a bake shop I would always make sure every dozen included one extra, a Baker's Dozen. Its little touches like that which matter most.
Quarter Cup Cookies
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup (60g) butter, softened
- 1/4 cup (45g) of creamy peanut butter
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) soft light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large free range egg yolks
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/8 tsp of baking powder
- 1/4 cup (35g) plain flour
- 1/4 cup (45g) chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup (20g) quick cooking oats
- 1/4 cup (20g) sweetened shredded coconut
- 1/4 cup (25g) chopped toasted pecan nuts
- 1/4 cup (40g) raisins
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Line a large baking sheet with baking paper. Set aside.
- Cream together the butter, peanut butter and both sugars until well blended. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla. Stir in the salt. Sift together the flour, baking soda and baking powder. Stir this into the creamed mixture, combining all well together.
- Stir in the chocolate chips, oatmeal, raisins, nuts and coconut.
- Scoop out heaped tablespoonsful and roll into balls. Place 3 inches apart on baking sheet.
- Bake until golden brown and set. (12 to 15 minutes.) Leave to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container.
I just have to show you these newest dishes of mine that I am using, and no I have not been paid to say that. I had to buy these just like anyone else. It is a part of my quest to up my food photography props. They come from Scandanavian Pantry. I just adore the simplicity of Scandanavian design. If I had the money my whole house would be done Scandanavian Style. Its been like that since I was a child and fell in love with the art of Carl Larson.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The
English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are
reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you
may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
Last
year at this time I was writing on another website as well as here. One of the recipes that I posted over there, but not over here was this delectable Apple & Cardamom Custard Tart.
I have always regretted not posting it here. It surely belonged here and so today I am righting that wrong. Today I am sharing it here so that my English Kitchen readers can enjoy it as well.
Its a beautiful tart and I remember being very proud of how it turned out. I thought it was perhaps one of the most beautiful things I had ever created!
Its actually quite a simple tart to make. The base is ready-made puff pastry. I like to use an all butter puff pastry if I can get it. Regular puff pastry can sometimes have a bit of a chemical taste to it.
All butter puff pastry is the way to go. Everything natural, nothing artificial.
The filling for the tart is a mix of ready made custard, egg yolks and mascarpone cheese. You mix this together and add some vanilla and ground cardamom before chilling it in the refrigerator.
While that is chilling (along with the tart base) you get on with the business of slicing the apple. That is probably the fiddliest part of the recipe. Slicing the apples.
You need so slice them thin enough that you can easily manipulate them. Even then it will be a bit hard. I found it easiest to work with very thin half slices of apple.
They were much more malleable. You need to be able to roll them into rosettes, so thin and malleable is the way to go.
Once your base and filling have chilled you are ready to start building the tart. You will need to spread the custard/mascarpone filling into the pastry base.
Then you just start rolling the apple slices into rosettes, sticking them down into the cream filling. The cream filling holds them in place. You don't need to be overly pedantic about this.
Just make as many whole rosettes as you can and then fill in the spaces around them with smaller rosettes. You can even fill the spaces in with curls.
Trust me when I say, it will come out beautiful no matter what. You don't need perfection here. It will look beautiful no matter what.
I can remember being so worried that it would come out looking messy or ugly if I didn't get every single rosette perfect. I probably spent far more time on this than I should have.
In the end it looked beautiful, despite its imperfections. It really did. I felt really proud of what I had accomplished and a bit silly for having worried about it.
See what I mean? That doesn't look bad at all. Its quite pretty actually. You get some really pretty perfect looking rosettes ad some not so pretty wonky looking rosettes. Truth be told, they shift a bit in the oven while baking.
You really do need to make sure that your apple is sliced thin enough that they will cook in the prescribed length of cooking time. You may think even so it doesn't look like much, but wait.
A light dusting of icing sugar brings this tart fully to life. It changes something interesting looking into something quite magical and beautiful.
But looks isn't everything. What does it taste like? I can tell you, it is delicious! You get the buttery flaky puff pastry on the bottom
That custard filling is beautiful. Its rich and indulgent. It tastes like vanilla with just a hint of cardamom. I think the richness is largely due to the mascarpone cheese.
It ends up being a cross between a custard and a cheesecake. Rich and velvety. Incredibly delicious. I could eat that filling all on its own with nothing else at all.
The apple is a bit of tart and a bit of sweet. It gets a tiny bit caramelized because of the fruit sugar soak that you put the slices in before you start rolling them.
It has a dual purpose, both for flavour and a bit of sweetness as well as maintaining the lovely white colour of the apple flesh. You could also add a bit of cinnamon or even more ground cardamom to give them a bit more flavour.
But really they are quite delicious all on their own. Just as they are. I seldom do fancy things like this really. I am quite lazy most of the time. That's why I wanted to bring this tart over here.
Apple & Cardamom Custard Tart
Ingredients:
- 1 pound of all butter puff pastry
- 1 1/3 cups (330g) ready made custard
- 3/4 cup (180g) mascarpone cheese
- 2 large free range egg yolks
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- 4 medium red skinned sweet eating apples
- 1 TBS fine sugar
- 1 TBS fresh Lemon Juice
- Icing sugar to dust
- pouring or whipped cream
Instructions:
- Butter a 9 ½ inch round loose-based fluted tart-tin. Roll the pastry between two sheet of baking paper into a round large enough to line the bottom of the tin and up the sides.
- Whisk the custard, mascarpone, egg yolks, vanilla paste, and cardamom together in a bowl until well combined. Cover and place in the refrigerator until well chilled.
- Core and half the apples lengthwise. Cut into thin half-moons. Toss together in a bowl with the fruit sugar and lemon juice.
- Spread the custard mixture in the pastry base. Arrange the apple slices on top of the custard, slightly overlapping them into attractive rosette shapes. Drizzle with any juices left in the bowl.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and the apples cooked. Cool and then refrigerate for 1 hour prior to serving.
- It may seem a bit fiddly, but you will soon get the hang of it, and trust me when I say that the impressed look on your guest’s faces when you serve it to them will be well worth any extra efforts utilized.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The
English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are
reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you
may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
Corn and Chicken Scallop is an old, old recipe that I have had in my collection of cookery books since I was in my last year of High School. Yes, I have been a foodie for quite a long time now and yes, I am getting old!
The recipe comes from a volume of the Better Homes & Gardens Cooking encycopedia entitled Favourite Ways with Chicken (Turkey, Duck and Game Birds). This edition was published in 1973.
I was engaged to be married that year with a wedding date set for August of 1974 and so in preparation for married life I began collecting these cookery books. BHG has aways had a great reputation for most things, and their recipes have always been more than reliable.
Although this book is more than 40 year old, it is still filled with valuable and trustworthy recipes. Many of the recipes in the volumes of that old encyclopedia were destined to become firm family favourites through the years, and this was one of them!
We have always loved cream corn in our family. I could actually eat it with a spoon from out of the tin. It used to be quite easy to find here in the UK.
In recent years howver, I have noticed that it has become much more difficult to come across, and I have to say that if you do find it, it is a lot more costly as well. I bought mine a few months back from amazon, and it cost a bomb.
That source seems to have dried up now as well, so who knows where I will be able to get it from again. I know you can make creamed corn from scratch, but you need to have good corn to do that, and alas . . . good corn does not exist here in the UK.
Most of what they sell as corn would qualify as cow corn back home. Oh what I wouldn't do for a couple of ears of Peaches and Cream Corn, freshly picked and slathered with butter and salt. It has been over 20 years for me. Sigh . . .
Scallop, what is a scallop. Where I come from a Scallop is a type of gratin baked dish, usually composed of a cream sauce and something else. Scalloped Potatoes would be an example. Very old fashioned and very delicious.
This is no different. The cream sauce in this case is the creamed corn. You also need a quantity of saltine crackers. They don't exist here in the UK either, but I have been able to find a quite suitable substitute for them. Italian Crackers.
This scallop is very similar to corn pudding which is a very popular Thankgiving dish in North America. It is made from the creamed corn of course, as well as some egg, milk, flour, green onions and seasoning, and then crumbled crackers.
The original recipe called for sprinkling all of the crackers on top. I have never done that. I have always mixed them in with the cream corn and milk mixture. I prefer it that way, and so does my family.
I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs in their place, although you could certainly use bone in and skin on if you wanted to. I do try to make things a bit healthier if I can, so boneless and skinless is what we go with.
I have never used chicken breasts for this recipe. I don't think they would lend themselves very well to the long cook time. I fear they would dry out too much. Just my opinion.
I also think that the thighs have a lot more flavour going for them. I love the dark meat of any bird, but I usually eat the white because, I am always trying to watch my cholesterol and fat intake.
Why do the things that are so bad for you taste so good? Its just not really fair is it! I do use chicken thighs for this and they are excellent! I would love to use the skin on ones. Oh boy . . . crispy chicken skin . . . but I am afraid chicken skin is a rare treat for me.
You really only need to make a salad to go on the side of this. My husband likes his potatoes however and a main meal would not be a main meal for him without some potatoes.
I buy these little frozen potato gratins when I get my grocery orders. Each one is small enough just for one really, but large enough that I can have a tablespoon-full if I want and he can enjoy the rest on his own and there are no leftovers!
Corn & Chicken Scallop
Ingredients:
- 1 (1 lb) ( 425g) can of creamed corn
- 1 cup (240ml) milk
- 1 large free range egg
- 1 TBS plain flour
- 6 green onions and tops, thinly sliced
- 6 to 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- paprika to sprinkle
- 30 saltine crackers, crumbled, plus extra for sprinkling on top
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup (60g) butter
- additional green onions to sprinkle on top as a garnish
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a large shallow casserole dish.
- Combine the creamed corn, flour, milk, egg, crackers and some seasoning in a bowl along with the chopped spring onions. Pour into the casserole dish. Nestle the chicken thighs down into the mixture. Lightly season them and dust with some paprika. Sprinkle additonal cracker crumbs over top and dot the whole thing with butter.
- Bake for about 1 hour, until golden brown and the chicken is cooked through and tender. Sprinkle with additional chopped green onion and serve hot.
We live in a bit of a throwaway society these days. People are all for modernising things and changing things. Not all change is good. Like this recipe for instance. Sometimes it is the old and simple things which bring us the most pleasure of all. There was a reason that people were much thinner in days gone by I think. It was the simple things that kept them that way.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
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