Apple Crisp

[Anneke]

For my Food and Wine class, a group of us have to put together a luncheon menu and match the wines. My group wants to make apple crisp. I was thinking, since I've had success combining ginger and vanilla in my apple pie, that we could go with that for the crisp.

I have 3 questions:

1. What's a nice way to spruce up an old favourite? By this I
mean, a dressed up presentation, adding other dimensions (I
was thinking some miniature almond macaroons), sauce, etc.

2. Does anyone have a really good recipe?

3. What wine woud you serve?

Thanks in advance!

A.

[angrychef]

You could maybe make a small tart shell or even a flat disk with a light ginger shortbread dough, fill with the apple filling(combination of granny and golden delicious) and then sprinkle on the cinnamon crumble topping. Or go with the almond macaroons and crumble a layer on the bottom of the apples(or the top). I would do the apple crisp warm, and the sauce could be a cinnamon creme angaise or a warm caramel Calvados sauce.

[Anneke]

Angrychef, I LOVE the idea of a warm caramel-Calvados sauce. Do you have a recipe? What about a wine suggestion? Thanks!!

[Isa]

I like a crisp that has oatmeal in it, love the taste and it helps keeping the crisp dry. You could however use nuts, pecan with the caramel sauce sounds pretty good. Or you could use a light biscuit dough with or without nuts.

My favourite crisp is from Richard Sax’s Classic Home Desserts. The recipe is actually for a Cranberry Crumble for Fall Fruits but I use only apple. I’ll spare you the fruits list and preparation and the ginger cream that goes with it but if you want it just let me know.

Oat Crunch Topping

3/4 cup old-fashioned or quick cooking oats (not instant)
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces

I add a pinch of salt, some spices and omit some of the sugar. I also add spices to the apple.

Preheated the oven to 375°F.

In a food processor, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar and butter. Pulse until the mixture os crumbled to the size of peas; do not over process. Scatter the topping mixture evenly over the fruit.

Bake until the fruit is bubbly and the topping is nicely browned, 50 to 60 minutes. If you’d like to brown the top further, very briefly run it under the broiler. Cool the baking dish on a wire rack until warm.

[Anneke]

I like that Isa, thanks.

I love the oats too but I think i would like to go with something a bit less rustic this time because of the nature of the event. Crumbled macaroons would work, but I wonder if there isn't anything else that I could use... Nah, maybe not.

I haven't made apple crisp in a LONG time... Do you guys and gals think it would be opssible to do it in a large tray, only 2 inches deep or so, and use a round cutter to portion it out? Think that would work?

[Isa]

With the apple "shrinkage factor", you won't be left with much if you only use a 2 inch deep mould. I do like the cutter idea, would make it really clean.


I do like the nuts idea. That might be more elegant than oatmeal.


In terms of crust you are a bit limited, its either a biscuit like crust, a pie like crus, or a crisp/crumble crust.


Why not an apple charlotte with caramel sauce. Still have the apple but it is a bit more elgant. I have a southern style cobbler with pecan-crunch topping. The topping is roll and cut using a cookie cutter.

[Anneke]

Sorry, what I meant was that the end-result would be 2 inches deep... If I do use a cutter, I just hope it doesn't fall apart on the plate...

Regarding the topping, I think I'll stick to the crumble; I think it provides the most contrast in terms of texture.

[W.DeBord]

I think of a crisp as an oatmeal topping exactly as Isa posted. Your talking crumble Anneke, which is fine too.

You lost me on:

A crisp or crumb consists of loose fruit with a pastry top (of sorts) how can you use a cookie cutter and pick up portions? Unless you've thickened your fruit to be a solid mass. Then if your putting your fruit filling into a bottom pastry then you have a tart or a pie, not a crisp or a crumble.....

A couple ideas:

Use a phyllo cup shell for your bottom. Cook/bake your apples seperate and your crumb seperate. Fill your shells to order and then top with a quenelle of cinnamon ice cream/or whipped cream. Tuck a dried apple slice (or you can go into fancier apple shapes using grated apple) into your ice cream and drizzle calvados sauce on plate.

I like two contrasting sauces drizzled on my plate, carmel and calvados angaise (for the colors).

You also could make hippen spoons (or leafs, etc...) and tuck those into your fruit or dairy topping (if you choose to use one). Even if you don't use a dairy ontop making something out of hippen will you nice height.

You also can decorate plates with cinnamon dusting it thru a stencil for a easy garnish.

Using phyllo is very quick, very light compared to any other crusts. You can sprinkle it with cinnamon sugar (or gingered sugar etc...) between your layers for flavor too.

I need the dairy to compliment the sugared apples. You could even do a semi-freddo to compliment, that would be very nice....

[Isa]

That makes more sense Anneke.


I do love your phyllo cup idea Wendy. As for crips, crumble, etc. here's what Richard Sax says in Classic Home Dessert:

Cobbler is fruit baked with a crust. Most crumble are made with a top crust of biscuit dough, which can be either a single solid layer or individual biscuits.

Crisp refers to the most casual member of these fruit desserts in which fruits is topped with rubbed mixture of butter, sugar, flour and sometimes nuts.

Crumble is the English cousin to our crisp. It has a crunchy shortbread like topping of oats, butter, flour and brown sugar.

[angrychef]

Anneke, for the caramel sauce my proportions are 2 # sugar, 8 oz. water, 2 cups cream, 4 oz. butter and 2 oz. Calvados. Add more cream or milk if you want it thinner. I'd either steep the cream with a couple cinnamon sticks or just use ground cinnamon(I like the tiny specks in the sauce).

As for the wine, I'm not much of a wine drinker so maybe do a search on epicurious for some hints. Something light and fruity would go well with the crisp, I think.

I love anything apple with vanilla ice cream, specially if the dessert is served warm. You could also make tiny florentine cups and fill with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream to serve next to the crisp.

[Anneke]

Wendy, that's so cool: after thinking about it for a bit and discussing it with one of my teachers today, I decided to do everything separate and into phyllo cups, with a dried apple chip. Imagine that!

Two things:

What is 'hippen'.
and
Can you really cook the crumb separately? Just oats, brown sugar, spices and onto a baking sheet in the oven?

Angry, thanks for the recipe.

I'd like to do ice cream but that will add to my food cost. But then again, so will Calvados. I'll have to cost it out and see....

[thebighat]

It works to punch out rounds of day-old apple crisp. It's how I use up a pan of it. Recycle it the next night and plate it and dress it up. It holds together pretty well.

[W.DeBord]

TBH, I don't get how you reheat it....and it holds its' shape, really? I alway left mine in ramikins for the guys to reheat. But the crisp turns horrible in the micro. How do you reheat it bighat?

I've made topping seperate before but the sucess of it really does depend upon what topping you use. The oats do need to absorb some liquid, so they don't work quite as well as other toppings. I guess I thought you were doing an American crumb, more along the lines of a coffee cake topping with more flour (that would work better with crisp phyllo, hint, hint). There are cobbler topping that bake like a cross between a cake and a biscuit, that are nice....


Peirre Herme in his first book with Dorie Greenspan has a cheesecake torte (of sorts, I forget the exact detail) but he instructs you to make your crumb seperately. I thought his crumb worked out quite well (I liked that, more than the torte). If it interests you I can post it?

Hippen is a paste much like a tuile paste but it bakes just a hair thinner. Except it main ingredient is almond paste (tuiles are cheaper but less delicate). It holds it's shape well even through the freezer. You either buy or make a stencil (it's easy to make) and on parchement paper that's sprayed and floured you just frost you paste on, using the stencil (it doesn't spread when baked so you can do very detailed items). You'll see many examples of it in Bo Friebergs book.

If you worked your recipe THBs' way cutting out circles you could make tuile cookies that would contain your apples. I can't think of a source for you to look at right this second, but I can get back to you on that. You make your stencil like a long triangle, bake your tuile then while it's hot shape it around a cylander object to the width your apples are cut with one end of the triangle, then your other end goes up in the air.

If you can't afford calvados you can use a poached apple puree to flavor. But it changes the texture.

[Anneke]

Thanks Wendy for all that info. Now I'll have something to research and practice on my own during school break! I actually do find all of this fascinating (confirming my friends' theory that I'm a freak), unfortunately, I have to work within the constraints imposed by the school's restaurant, where we will be producing this menu for a pannel. By constraints, I mean both money and time. Everything has to be prepared that morning, and only one or two students will be working on it so the simpler the better... I love the idea of tuiles or their alternatives but I think that might freak a few people out.

What do you think of this ( instead of a crumble top):
Phyllo cups sprinkled with sugar and something (probably not cinnamon because of the flavours in the apples), prebaked. Fill with sautéed apples with ginger and vanilla. Top with a perfect slice of apple chip. Top that with a quenelle of ginger ice cream. Oh, and some sauce below all that. What do you think?

[Isa]

What about some kind of streusel top that you could bake on it's own? Once cooked it could be cut and put on top of the apple... hmmm the apple.... What will you call this new dessert Anneke?