As I write this, it is snowing again. Wow,what a winter it has been, and continues to be. I begin to wonder if spring is truly going to come. But like any issue of faith, one just has to believe. Spring has always come, with its promise of new beginnings and life, and it will be all the more special this year when it does.
Usually I would be starting to think of things like asparagus and lemon, lamb and baby beets–but it’s just a little too chilly still for the spring forerunners. I’m still thinking about hot stews and soups, lovely warm desserts like apple crisp in little ramekins with ice cream melting on it. So, to keep us warm through these last chilly days of winter, here is a recipe for orange-tinged mini apple crisps.
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Individual Apple Crisps
SERVINGS6ramekins
|
COOK TIME |
PREP TIME |
READY IN |
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Butter 6 ramekins.
- In a medium bowl mix together flour, walnuts, 2 Tablespoons sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and a pinch of salt.
- Pour butter over and mix together with a fork. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl combine apples, remaining 2 Tablespoons sugar and orange juice, tossing to coat.
- Divide among ramekins, top with flour mixture.
- Place ramekins on a baking sheet and bake until fruit is tender and topping is golden. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream if desired.
What says Autumn more than apples? I still remember apple picking as a child — and all of the smells, tastes and visual stimuli that went with it… the drive to Hadley through the Notch, the trees a riot of color, the smell of leaves crunching underfoot and of ripening apples. The first bite sitting at the top of a tree, tart, juicy sweetness. We are harvesting our apple trees, a few at a time. The early apples are sweet, tart, and super crunchy, perfect for any baking one would want to do. I love apple pie. Also like apple dumplings, but I don’t fancy the whole apple wrapped in crust. So I thought of a marriage of the two — cinnamon sweet apple chunks bundled in pie crust! Little individual dumplings that anyone could eat warm from the oven. So here is what I came up with.
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Apple Bundles
SERVINGS5bundles
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COOK TIME14-16minutes |
PREP TIME |
READY IN1hour |
Ingredients
Instructions
- Mix together flour, sugar and salt.
- Add butter and cut in with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles course meal and the pieces of butter are pea-sized.
- Add water as needed and mix with a fork until dough holds together and you can form into a ball.
- Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
For the filling
- Peel and cut apples into 1/2 inch pieces.
- In a large pan, over medium heat, melt butter and add apples. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring.
- Add sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and cook a few more minutes. Set aside.
To make bundles
- Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness in a rough rectangular shape. Using a sharp knife, cut dough into 4 inch squares.
- Place dough squares on prepared pans. Spoon 1 Tablespoon to 1 1/2 Tablespoons in center of dough square.
- Bring corners to center, pinching along seams. Brush top of each bundle, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (last 2 ingredients combined).
- Bake for 14 to 16 minutes or until crust is golden. Can be served with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream.
This is a busy time of year for us in Paraclete House Kitchen. We are in the process of making baked goods and preserves for the holiday season, some of which will also be for sale in Priory Gifts. Most Saturdays there are about fourteen people of all ages in the kitchen — from 5 years to 80+ years — making jams, chutneys, baking loaves of bread, cookies, pies, and cakes, as well as putting together mid-morning snack for the 200 other people out working on various projects around the community. We have of course been making a lot of things with our plentiful apple harvest; caramel apple pies, apple harvest jam, and my favorite, apple carrot chutney. This is a delicious accompaniment to roast pork, ham, or chicken, and is also wonderful for ham and cheese sandwiches. It’s especially good with cheese on a cracker or mixed into a spread.
Apple Carrot Chutney
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Apple Carrot Chutney
SERVINGS5cups
|
COOK TIME3-5mins. |
PREP TIME |
READY IN |
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a heavy pot, sauté carrots in canola oil until almost tender, about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add in all the other ingredients, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer about one hour until slightly thick, stirring frequently.
- Ladle into hot, sterilized jars and seal, or transfer into a container and store in the refrigerator.
It’s a cool crisp October day. The kind of day that is perfect for a piping-hot cup of afternoon tea and a nice warm freshly baked piece of tea bread or coffee cake. Not just any kind of coffee cake. No, this is a day for my favorite spicy nutmeg cake.
What makes this cake so special to me? Well, to begin with, I love nutmeg and this is a nutmeg lover’s cake. The other thing is that while many coffee cakes have crumb toppings this cake has its “crumbs” on the bottom! Surprising but so delicious. Moist on the inside, crisp and crunchy on the bottom and nutty and golden on the top.
If you love nutmeg, you will love this cake. If you are not a nutmeg lover, you just may become one after trying it!
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Nutmeg Cake
SERVINGS
|
COOK TIME35mins. |
PREP TIME |
READY IN |
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease a 9-inch cake pan.
- Blend together brown sugar, flour and butter to make a crumb mixture.
- Spread half the mixture in the pan.
- Stir nutmeg, sour cream, baking soda and egg into the remaining crumb mixture.
- Pour batter over the crumbs in the pan.
- Sprinkle with nuts.
- Bake for 35 minutes.
