39. Apple Crisp

Date Cooked: November 9, 2008
Page: 931
Rating: B

I love apple crisp. It was one of my favorite desserts growing up. That being said this was the first time I attempted to make it myself. Not sure why since I was not afraid of it and I didn’t think it would be overly complex. It wasn’t but that didn’t stop me from “learning” something in the process.

I’ll start by saying that peeling apples is low on the list of things I enjoy doing. It is right up there with milking corn (I hate that term), peeling hot potatoes and husking chick peas… and deveining shrimp. It is time consuming and I always feel that I am wasting good apple flesh. I also discovered that my excellent Henkel’s paring knife is not the best knife for the job. The 99 cent flimsy knife which I purposely bent the blade on worked far superior… although it was not as sharp, it was infinitely more flexible. Once the apples were peeled and cored (the cheap, flexible knife also made coring easier), I chopped them into chunks and set them aside in a bowl with a “little” lemon juice, zest and sugar. I covered the apples and placed them in the fridge while I prepped the rest.

The topping was really simple. Sugar, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Walnuts and Flour were mixed and then butter was chopped in via the food processor. This topping was then set in the fridge to rest until the oven was freed up.

When I was ready to bake the crisp I placed the apples in a 9x9 pan, covered with the topping and baked. I forgot how much I love the smell of baking apples. I could hardly wait to try some.

Rating: B. It was good but I definitely know where I need to improve, quantity. I needed more apples and topping or a slightly smaller pan. In addition the first bite was delightfully tart but after half a bowl the lemon juice was really beginning to overpower. I will make sure I watch carefully how much lemon juice gets added. It was a great flavor but definitely reminds me of the saying “everything in moderation”.