Happy October! And welcome back to The Real Brian Show where after over a month, Captain Influence is finally gracing us with his presence... and a full cup of gag-worthy Folgers. But we love him and his silly drink preferences because he brings a fun...
Happy October! And welcome back to The Real Brian Show where after over a month, Captain Influence is finally gracing us with his presence... and a full cup of gag-worthy Folgers. But we love him and his silly drink preferences because he brings a fun and energy to rival Brian's! Other than professing our love for this time of year, we dig into some movies, some games, and talk a bit about our observations in watching people {try to} communicate.
Ice cream? Ice cream in October? I drove 2 1/2 hours north yesterday, to spend the rest of the week working from my family's cabin, and it was snowing on the way up. Tornado warnings in Minneapolis, snow 155 miles north. Yessir, this is Minnesota. No, I will not be eating ice cream...
...unless it is served with APPLE CRISP. Yes, this is my favorite time of year because apple orchards and apple crisp.
The key to every apple crisp recipe is - wait for it - the APPLES. They need to be quality apples. Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, or freshly-picked apples... they've got to be juicy, a little tart, and nice and firm. (Because, c'mon, no one likes a wimpy apple.) It matters how you handle the apples, too. Getting them as THINLY SLICED as possible makes a huge difference in how the crisp bakes.
If you're doing a large batch of apple crisp, you can sprinkle some lemon juice on the apples to prevent them from browning while you're cutting them all up. But before arranging them in the pan, coating them in a delicious cinnamon spice sauce makes a TON of difference in the final product. This sauce is usually butter and flour with some cinnamon, milk, vanilla and splash of lemon juice (unless the apples have been soaking in lemon, of course).
Then the crumbly mixture that makes a crisp... crispy. Proportions here matter. Having too many apples and not enough crisp is like, "Why am I not just eating an apple?" So after you mix up the crumbler, if it doesn't seem like enough... add more. You won't regret it.
I'll finish off with the ingredients of my favorite apple crisp recipe... but please share your own if you've got one!
Crumb Mixture | Cinnamon Spice Sauce (filling) |
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** Preheat oven to 325... probably AFTER you slice the apples, unless you have some amazing apple cutting skillz 1. Combine crumb mixture with pastry cutter until crumbly. 2. Set aside 3. Peel, slice apples 4. Mix up filling: combine melted butter and flour until well blended. Add lemon juice, milk and vanilla and stir well. Stir in brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. 5. Toss apples in filling sauce until fully coated. 6. Arrange apples in an 8x8 pan 7. Sprinkle crumb mixture over apples 8. Bake for 30-35 minutes 9. EAT IT WHEN IT WON'T BURN YOUR MOUTH OFF! |