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Skillet Apple Crisp
Aug. 10th, 2020 09:07 amI'm not sure if I have mentioned this before, but if you have a free account through Dreamwidth, you can't search your own posts by your user name. But if you choose a nonsense word and include it in every post, you can easily search your own posts. If you don't want others to see the nonsense word, you can use HTML to make the text white (but that assumes people are reading your posts on a white background). Anyhow, that's what I do, and it's why using Dreamwidth for logging my favorite recipes works really well for me. I'm about to make dinner but I need my recipe for chicken korma? No problem, I just search for my nonsense word + korma.
Here is the small string of HTML needed: "less-than-symbol font color="white" greater-than-symbol NONSENSEWORD less-than-symbol /font color greater-than-symbol". Just replace "greater-than-symbol" and "less-than-symbol" with the actual characters. I try to remember to put it at the end of each entry. Make sure you use a truly nonsense word that others are unlikely to use. For example, don't use "spadoinkle" or "shpadoinkle". Even though it's a nonsense word, it's a well-known nonsense word, and there are a lot of DW entries that use it. I use "keewerd" because I know I'll remember it, and no one else ever types that word on DW. (Please don't use it yourself. It would make this whole exercise pointless.)
Anyhow, I had five apples starting to go mushy in my fridge, and a neighbor had a very productive apple tree and had set out bags of free apples, so last night I made skillet apple crisp.
I figured out the easiest way for me to peel and core apples. Wash apple. Peel it like a potato with a standard potato peeler. Use one of those apple core/slicer tools to separate the apple core and give you 10 even slices. Done! I'm not sure what I was doing before, but it wasn't this easy.
Recipe from Cooks Illustrated. My notes in brackets.
Serves 6 to 8
Ingredients
Topping
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup pecans, chopped fine
3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats [I only had steel-cut oats on hand, and I actually liked them better because the grains are smaller]
1/2 cup packed brown sugar [recipe says light brown, I used dark brown, not sure it matters]
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon table salt [You may want to use less if you use salted butter.]
8 tablespoons (one stick) butter, melted
Filling
3 pounds apples (about 7 medium), peeled, cored, halved, and cut into 1/2 inch thick wedges [Cooks Illustrated recommends using Golden Delicious apples. I used a mix of Honeycrisp and whatever variety my neighbor is growing.]
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon [I used a whole teaspoon, and also added a dash of ground cloves. Next time I'll try to remember to add a little ground ginger as well.]
1 cup apple cider [I didn't have cider on hand so I skipped this step and the apples turned out just fine.]
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
[I used about a teaspoon of King Arthur's Instant ClearJel to thicken the apple syrup. You could also use cornstarch, or eliminate this step altogether.]
Instructions
For the topping: adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Combine flour, pecans, oats, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt in medium bowl. Stir in melted butter until mixture is thoroughly moistened and crumbly. Set aside while preparing fruit filling.
For the filling: Toss apples, granulated sugar, and spices together in large bowl, set aside. Bring cider to simmer in 12-inch oven-safe skillet over medium heat; cook until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 5 minutes. Transfer reduced cider to bowl or heat-safe measuring cup; stir in lemon juice and set aside.
Heat butter in now-empty skillet over medium heat. When foaming subsides, add apple mixture and cook, stirring frequently, until apples begin to soften and become translucent, 12 to 14 minutes. (Do not fully cook apples.) Remove pan from heat and gently stir in cider mixture until apples are coated. [I found it difficult to keep the apples in the skillet while cooking them, so I cooked them in a larger pot and dumped them into the skillet when done.]
Sprinkle topping evenly over fruit, breaking up any large chunks. Place skillet on baking sheet and bake until fruit is tender and topping is deep golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack until warm, at least 15 minutes, and serve.
This recipe makes a LOT of topping, which I adore, but if you aren't a huge fan, you could easily cut the topping recipe in half and have enough to cover the dish. You may want to bake it for less time if you do this.
KEEWERD
Here is the small string of HTML needed: "less-than-symbol font color="white" greater-than-symbol NONSENSEWORD less-than-symbol /font color greater-than-symbol". Just replace "greater-than-symbol" and "less-than-symbol" with the actual characters. I try to remember to put it at the end of each entry. Make sure you use a truly nonsense word that others are unlikely to use. For example, don't use "spadoinkle" or "shpadoinkle". Even though it's a nonsense word, it's a well-known nonsense word, and there are a lot of DW entries that use it. I use "keewerd" because I know I'll remember it, and no one else ever types that word on DW. (Please don't use it yourself. It would make this whole exercise pointless.)
Anyhow, I had five apples starting to go mushy in my fridge, and a neighbor had a very productive apple tree and had set out bags of free apples, so last night I made skillet apple crisp.
I figured out the easiest way for me to peel and core apples. Wash apple. Peel it like a potato with a standard potato peeler. Use one of those apple core/slicer tools to separate the apple core and give you 10 even slices. Done! I'm not sure what I was doing before, but it wasn't this easy.
Recipe from Cooks Illustrated. My notes in brackets.
Serves 6 to 8
Ingredients
Topping
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup pecans, chopped fine
3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats [I only had steel-cut oats on hand, and I actually liked them better because the grains are smaller]
1/2 cup packed brown sugar [recipe says light brown, I used dark brown, not sure it matters]
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon table salt [You may want to use less if you use salted butter.]
8 tablespoons (one stick) butter, melted
Filling
3 pounds apples (about 7 medium), peeled, cored, halved, and cut into 1/2 inch thick wedges [Cooks Illustrated recommends using Golden Delicious apples. I used a mix of Honeycrisp and whatever variety my neighbor is growing.]
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon [I used a whole teaspoon, and also added a dash of ground cloves. Next time I'll try to remember to add a little ground ginger as well.]
1 cup apple cider [I didn't have cider on hand so I skipped this step and the apples turned out just fine.]
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
[I used about a teaspoon of King Arthur's Instant ClearJel to thicken the apple syrup. You could also use cornstarch, or eliminate this step altogether.]
Instructions
For the topping: adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Combine flour, pecans, oats, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt in medium bowl. Stir in melted butter until mixture is thoroughly moistened and crumbly. Set aside while preparing fruit filling.
For the filling: Toss apples, granulated sugar, and spices together in large bowl, set aside. Bring cider to simmer in 12-inch oven-safe skillet over medium heat; cook until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 5 minutes. Transfer reduced cider to bowl or heat-safe measuring cup; stir in lemon juice and set aside.
Heat butter in now-empty skillet over medium heat. When foaming subsides, add apple mixture and cook, stirring frequently, until apples begin to soften and become translucent, 12 to 14 minutes. (Do not fully cook apples.) Remove pan from heat and gently stir in cider mixture until apples are coated. [I found it difficult to keep the apples in the skillet while cooking them, so I cooked them in a larger pot and dumped them into the skillet when done.]
Sprinkle topping evenly over fruit, breaking up any large chunks. Place skillet on baking sheet and bake until fruit is tender and topping is deep golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack until warm, at least 15 minutes, and serve.
This recipe makes a LOT of topping, which I adore, but if you aren't a huge fan, you could easily cut the topping recipe in half and have enough to cover the dish. You may want to bake it for less time if you do this.
KEEWERD
