Saturday, September 12, 2020

It must be Fall. A crumble happened

This is peach and apple crumble, both from the farm. The honey crisp apples are juicy and crisp and way too tart for eating, for me, but great for cooking. So after trying a couple for midmorning apple break, I decided to cook them.

It's also a chance to use a couple of tools I like even though they are single purpose. One being this cool apple corer

Also I mentioned possible crisps in our future  last time Handsome Son was here and noticed how he brightened up.

So here's the doings.


Note the cinnamon is Ceylon, the real thing. Not the stuff you get at the supermarket which is a poor relation of the real stuff, tougher, harsher. The molasses is to turn the white sugar brown, no need to mix it separately, I just add them in as ingredient, same result.

 I do Rose Birnbaum's maceration, which raises the whole thing up an order of magnitude in flavor. It's more to do, but when you've driven to the farm, brought home the fruit, peeled, cored, diced etc and made the topping you might as well do one more thing and make it great rather than just good.

You need all these to macerate the fruit. Then toss the doings together and leave it alone for up to an hour.



 Then drain the fruit over a pan and you'll find quite a bit of juice emerging. Rose does the adding in two stages, but I just macerate the lot, fruit, ginger, lemon zest, sugar, molasses, cornstarch, cinnamon, salt all at once. I don't notice any difference.

You reduce that fast, swirling the pan around as if you knew why you swirl not stir, some food chemistry. 

Then you've put the fruit in the glass dish, I like a glass dish for this, looks very appealing.

Once the juice, now syrup, is half the original amount, pour it over the fruit. 

Add the topping which I improvised, oat flakes, whole-wheat flour, sugar, molasses, melted butter. More dots of butter on top.


Oven 375f.  Half an hour with a foil cover, half without. It's bubbling nicely now. Needs a rest before you dive in. 

Good for afternoon tea, snack for son, breakfast -- well it's oats and fruit! said defensively.


15 comments:

  1. Yummy looking, as always! Apple orchards open in two weeks here. Can’t wait.

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    1. I had a helping for afternoon tea. Good. Even better tomorrow after all the flavors blend together. I find apple and peach a good combo.

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  2. Apple crumble here tonight too - with wormy honeycrisps from our tree. Didn't know about the macerating - will try that next time. Otherwise almost the same (Vietnamese cinnamon, as we're out of Ceylon), and walnuts added. Yes, crumble for breakfast!

    Cheers,
    Chris from Boise

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    1. I was just wondering if walnuts would be a good addition, as I was eating my slice at teatime. since I'm sharing with handsome Son, I'll ask if he'd like that. If not I can always insert walnuts on one side, the way we used to organize pizza, different toppings for different folk.

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  3. Health food! When I make my crumble I chop some pecans to put into the topping. Or sometimes almonds. Very nice. Walnuts would be good too.

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    1. Now there's a great idea. In the crumble rather than the fruit. Yes on this, thank you.

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    2. Yes, nuts in the topping so they don't get soggy.

      Chris from Boise

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  4. Replies
    1. It's macerating. Not marinating. With marinating you typically discard the marinades. Maceration is a process of extracting the natural liquid in order to reduce and use it as a syrup addition.
      I expect it was predictive text causing the word choice, but I like to be sure.

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  5. this sounds really good. i make an apple crisp, but this recipe has a lot of differences!! i know about swirling!!!

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    Replies
    1. I must look up Harold McGee on swirling. I bet he knows.

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  6. you asked me about how i got started raising butterflies and i can't really remember. i think i was growing dill outdoors, saw a caterpillar, did some research and decided to give it a go.

    https://www.joyfulbutterfly.com/raising-butterflies-indoors/

    that is an excellent source for information. they also sell kits to get you started.

    https://monarchbutterflylifecycle.com/products/tower-butterfly-cage-drawbridge-door-potted-plants?variant=16458253434926&currency=USD&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqfz6BRD8ARIsAIXQCf2DJ5PfzvWtP1o3AXaZlj-zWYglwGaKImY307dnVBBifS-mj8YtegQaAvSQEALw_wcB

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  7. Looks like a really tasty dessert - Handsome Son must have been pleased!

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    Replies
    1. It went over well. He said whoa, this is good, without being forcibly prompted!

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