TWD—Cran-Apple Crisp

“Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!  November 16, 2009, it was rainy and snowing all day today.    I always think the first snowfall is fun to see.

Tuesday’s With Dorie time again.  I’ve kind of been liking that November is the month we get to pick and choose from our four chosen recipes in whatever order we’d like.  Today’s recipe was GREAT!  I chose to do the Cran-Apple Crisp, chosen by Em of The Repressed Pastry Chef.  This crisp was simple and oh-so-tasty.  Just because I felt like it, I omitted the coconut and added some extra oats in place of that.  I also omitted the giner, but added about 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg.  I also added about 1/2 cup chopped walnuts.  I love nuts in crisps.

Get this—surprise, surprise—I followed the fruit filling in the recipes exactly.  Whaaaat?  I know, I can’t believe it either.  I used the dried cranberries and loved the addition of the fresh cranberries with the apples.  I might have cut the apples a little smaller than 1/2 inch chunks, but I really liked them that way, because I do not like any crunch to my apples in an apple crisp and this ensured they were soft.  I baked 6 1/2 cup ramekins and some in an 8x6 inch Pyrex dish.  This is the only picture I took of the larger crisp.  Oops.  It didn’t even have the crisp on it.  Oh well.

I actually baked about 1/3 of the crisp recipe on a baking sheet.  Why?  You’ll see in a minute. 

But after doing that, I realized there wasn’t enough crisp left for the 8x6 inch pan.  So I quickly whipped up another 1/2 batch of the crisp so every dish could have some.  Crisps for me are almost more about the crisp than the fruit underneath!  LOVED the crisp.  It had a perfect amount of crunch and the flavor was great.  I baked the 6 ramekins for 25 minutes and the 8x6 inch dish for 35 minutes.

You didn’t think I’d serve it without ice cream, did you?  Looks like vanilla, huh.  Nope.  It’s not.

Oh and see that extra crisp on top?  That’s what I’m talking about.  Not enough on top there?  How about this?

“Hurry, I’m melting….”

So, not vanilla, huh.  I made Apple Cider Ice Cream.  Quite simple, really.  I followed the same recipe I make for vanilla, which is David Lebovitz’ Philly Style Vanilla Ice Cream but I added a reduction of apple cider to it after it churned.  Let’s see if I can write this up the way I made it (I’ve simplified DL’s recipe a bit.)

Apple Cider Ice Cream, by Katrina Smith

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup 2% milk

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

pinch of salt

2 cups apple cider , reduced to 1/3 cup

In a heavy saucepan on the stove, simmer the apple cider over medium heat until it has reduced to about 1/3 cup syrup.  It took about 15 minutes, I think.

In another heavy saucepan, warm one cup cream with the sugar and pinch of salt.  Heat to scalding until sugars are dissolved.  Remove from heat.  Pour the remaining cup of cream and the cup of milk into a separate medium sized bowl.  Add the hot cream mixture and whisk together.  Add the vanilla.  Make an ice bath in a large bowl filled mostly with ice.  Set the bowl of cream in the ice bath and pour a little water over the ice, being careful not to get any water in the bowl of ice cream mixture.  This is my favorite, fast way to chill the mixture.  Let it sit in the ice bath, stirring every 5 minutes or so.  About 20-30 minutes later, it is pretty chilled and then I don’t have to wait for it to chill in the fridge for hours!  Churn in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.  When the ice cream is just about ready, Pour in the apple cider reduction and let it mix in thoroughly.  Remove the ice cream from the ice cream maker and store in a container in the freezer for at least 2 hours.  Serve with Dorie’s Cran-Apple Crisp (or however you’d like!)  Be sure to have extra crisp to top it with!

*During the last few seconds of its churning, I believe I sprinkled in a few more shakes of cinnamon and a couple grates of fresh nutmeg, to taste. 

The cider went from this-----------------------to this.

Can you believe it, Folks—I have now done three week’s of TWD with NO chocolate!  Whatever shall we do about this?

Don’t worry, I’ve completely made up for it on other days—check out my previous post to see some of all the chocolate overload!  And check out all the other posts for this week by scrolling through the list of bloggers on the TWD site.  Thanks, Em, LOVE the crisp.  You can get the recipe on her blog or buy Dorie’s Book!