apple cranberry crisp
It has been over a year since I sounded-off about my mild irritation with Michael Chirello–salient takeaways included that I found him fussy and often in excessive use of needlessly pretentious ingredients–and I’ve spent most of it feeling bad about it. I mean, he cooks honestly; he uses as good ingredients as he gets his hands on and he’s not afraid of adapting old stand-bys to make them more feasible for entertaining. These are all good things. I will not now nor ever abide throwing fistfuls of carefully cultivated gray salt into boiling pots of pasta water, but I’d rather pay attention to someone who cares enough about the nuance in flavor that they create than someone who acts like it doesn’t exist.
Unfortunately, we’ve had another setback. A significant one, one so bad I have had to something that crushes my spirits and raises my shackles and throw the entire dish in the garbage. And the error was so easily avoidable, I just… can’t let it go. I hate throwing away food.
This apple-cranberry crisp with polenta streusel is aggressively, inedibly and teeth-achingly sweet. When I saw the amount of sugar required, my eyebrow arched, but I remembered how much sugar is needed to make even a tart cranberry sauce and forged ahead with Chiarello’s instructions. Oh, how I wish I could hit the “do over” button now, because the flavor of this crisp is stupendous–lemon, orange, cinnamon and the slightest edge of pepper nestle against apples and cranberries in a dish that would be welcome at any winter dinner party. But I’d use a heck of a lot less sugar next time.
I’ve been pondering for a few days now whether the sugar needs to be halved or just two-third-ed, and well, I can’t tell you with any authority because I haven’t remade it yet. When I do, I will halve it first, but I’d rather have too little sugar than any memory of too much. But if you’re nervous, and are willing to risk a little extra sweetness, try knocking down the sugar by just 1/3 of a cup. Whatever you do, I’d love it if you can report back to us. It will likely be weeks or months before I get to this again, and wouldn’t want others to miss out on your helpful input. It’s a good recipe, it just needs a major adjustment of one ingredient.
Oh, and why, pray tell, am I weeks away from getting back to this recipe? Because I’m leaving this town–with the sleet sliding down the windows and the ankle-deep slush just waiting for my defiantly stilettoed feet to mistake it for solid ground–and I’m taking Alex with me. We’re going to Aruba, baby, and we’re not going to be back for a week. But what is this? Do not be sad! Because I am such a doting and dedicate food blogger, I have been furtively stashing cookie recipes for weeks that I could share with you in my absence. Four, in fact. So, never mind the fact that I’ll be wasting away in Margaritaville while you’re searching for your long-lost layer of Gore-Tex. I leave you with four of my favorite cookie efforts to date, just in time for your holiday bake-fest. I might be a little absent from answering questions in the comments after Saturday, but I’ll make every effort to get to all of them when I return a week later.
The Menu for Hope Campaign continues, which means that you still have a chance to win a box of home baked cookies from the Smitten Kitchen, delivered to your doorstep. You receive one raffle ticket for a prize of your choice for each $10 you donate. I’ve explained everything else over here.
One year ago: Soupe a l’Oignon [Onion Soup]
Apple-Cranberry Crisp with Polenta Streusel Topping
Adapted from Michael Chiarello via Bon Appetit, December 2007
Topping:
1 teaspoon aniseed
1 1/2 cups pastry flour
3/4 cup polenta (coarse cornmeal)*
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 large egg, beaten to blend
Filling:
2 cups fresh cranberries
White sugar–original recipe calls for 2/3 cup, I’d suggest 1/3 cup or omitting it entirely
2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated orange peel
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Vanilla gelato or ice cream
For topping:
Toast aniseed in small skillet over medium heat until slightly darker in color, about 3 minutes. Place seeds in processor. Add next 5 ingredients; blend 5 seconds. Add butter; blend, using on/off turns, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Transfer mixture to large bowl. Drizzle egg over and stir until ingredients are evenly moistened.
For filling:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Combine first 8 ingredients in large bowl; stir to blend. Add apples and lemon juice; toss to blend. Transfer filling to 11×7x2- inch glass baking dish (or other shallow 2-quart baking dish).
Crumble topping finely over filling. Bake dessert until apples are tender, juices bubble thickly, and topping is crisp and golden, about 1 hour. Cool 15 minutes. Serve crisp warm with gelato.
I don’t even want to think about how nice it must be to take off for Aruba. Much better here in Cleveland — with sleet, wind and frostbites. Sigh … I’ll comfort myself with your yummy-looking apple-cranberry crisp. Looks delicious!
Have fun - it is indeed a disgusting day here in lovely NYC.
The crisp sounds interesting and good. But funny that it was too sweet. The Times had a cranberry tart in a cornmeal crust before Thanksgiving, and I found that to be too sweet. Cut from similar cloth?
Hmmm, can’t wait for the cookie recipes! I know they will be wonderful…..and I also guess that I am not “too” jealous as hubby and I are going on our Very First Real Vacation ever (other than long weekends, etc…) and taking a cruise to the Western Caribbean for 1 week in January. Ahhhhh. Michigan weather in January is, I am guessing, almost as bad if not worse, than NYC in January.
Have fun on your trip!
At least you didn’t mistake bulk onion soup mix for brown sugar… oops.
Have fun in Aruba! Need any restaurant suggestions? We’re just back from there and had some great and some not so great meals.
Have fun in Aruba! I’ll miss your blogs and photos. This weather here in NYC is a horror. Wish I was going away too!
Hey guys — I’ve got four posts lined up while I am away–lots and lots of cookies–so you won’t have to miss me at all. I don’t think I’ll be thinking much about the internet while on the beach, or at least I hope not!
Aruba! (swoon) No wonder you needed some reading material! I look forward to seeing pictures!
(Sorry about the exclamation point overload…it cannot be helped in this case.)
That’s twice in the last hour that someone has said they are going to Aruba… neither being me, sadly. Have fun being warm!
Well I do hope you don’t think about the Internet while on vacation. Have a lot of fun!
Have fun! My mom made an apple-cranberry crisp for Thanksgiving, it was delicious. Can’t wait to try the polenta topping!
Oh, I just love the slush and the snow, give it to me how ever it comes, just make it white and Wintery outside! Let me cook stews and curries and hot, cinnamony puddings and sit in front of the fire with gluwine or hot apple cider. Well, okay. I’m a teensy bit jealous. But only the tiniest bit of teensy… Have fun and come back cookin’.
Bringing Christmas on home, Deb. Great twist with the pepper too. I lobe black pepper in Sweets with banana too (hint hint).
You have room iin your suitcase for a little stowaway and her husband, right? That would be lovely.
Hi everyone,
This is an awesome blog, one that I’ve been stealing recipes from over the past year! I’ve decided to start my own: http://stomachgrowl.blogspot.com/
I just started it, so it’s not much, but I’d love to hear from all of you!
Cheers!
I’ll be pedantic and point out that the phrase is “raise my hackles” as in the hairs along the back of a dog which rise when it is angry or alarmed.
I do look forward to the cookie recipes. The oatmeal chocolate chip pecan ones were a big hit here even though I made them without pecans and with half the what seemed to me to be an enormous amount of chocolate substituted with white raisins (or what we call sultanas). I also added an extra cup of oatmeal to make up for leaving out the pecans and just because I really like oatmeal.
On the subject of sugar, I often find American cookie recipes are too sweet and have had success with decreasing the amount of sugar by about a quarter. Mark Bittman’s recipes seem about right on the sugar and chocolate levels though.
FWIW, I cut the sugar in half in most (many) desserts. If it calls for one cup, very often a half cup to maybe 3/4 c. is often sufficient.
And the cornmeal & some other elements are also sweet tasting, so it makes sense to cut the sugar back even more. I’ll try this recipe out on my family for Christmas. ;)
At Thanksgiving we made an apple cranberry crumble (also with 2 cups cranberries). I was a bit shocked by the amount of sugar in the filling of the original recipe, which was 1 1/2 cups, so I reduced it to 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons. It ended up being just right, but definitely had a tart bite to it, and I would not have reduced the sugar to anything less than a cup, fyi.
Have fun on vacation!
I used to think cranberries required a lot of sugar (and work) which is why I did not make cranberry sauce from scratch, until this Thanksgiving. Actually, one of my brothers-in-law, with direction from me, prepared a delicious cranberry-ginger-tangerine chutney, from a SF Chronicle recipe (here:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/14/FDTQT840P.DTL#thanks8).
I prepared the chutney on my own and it was delicious, again. Both times we used 2/3 of a cup of brown sugar to 12 ounces of fresh cranberries. The best part, it was completed in less than 30 minutes in one saucepan!
Oh, sad. Well at least you’ve informed the masses so that we know to avoid the uber-sweet pitfall. Have fun in Aruba!!
I’ll still miss ya while your tanning yourself in Aruba. ;D
Safe travels!! Have a wonderful time - can’t wait to hear about your food adventures when you get back :-)
hey! ive been immensely enjoying your blog- thank you! enjoy your vacation!!!
I thought my husband and I were the only people who cringed at MC’s ridiculous use of grey salt for pasta boiling water. Glad to see we’re not the only curmudgeons :) Love your site and have fun in Aruba!
When I saw that first photo, my first thought was, “wow, that’s beautiful” and then, “wow, that’s a lot of sugar”. I’d definitely like to give this a try with less sugar - it looks like it has so much potential. Do you think the topping has too much sugar as well, or is it just the filling? If I do try, I’ll let you know how it turns out. Thanks!
To me that doesn’t seem like it would be too much sugar. As I recall, west coast cranberries are a lot more tart than their east coast brethren, though. It may just be that you have sweeter berries than the one’s he’s using.
have fun in Aruba!
While I’m thrilled about the cookie recipes, I am sad not to have your blog sitter back. I enjoyed the posts last time and also discovered the dried garlic pieces to sprinkle on things through her post on how to eat a NY pizza.
Have fun in the sun!
I’m so glad to hear someone else finds Michael Chiarello a little annoying (but in the best way possible) - one of my friends and I have a running joke about how he just nips out back to his orchard of Meyer lemons when there are quite a few of us who have never even seen one, let alone had one on hand for a recipe! ;)
Have a great time in Aruba!
You know how to make my mouth water (and I mean that in the least creepy of ways).
Looks fantastic!
there is something so very delightful about perfect rounds of brown sugar.
The first picture you took is amazing!
I made this dish and as recommended reduced the sugar in the filling to just the brown sugar, no white. I feel it could even lose more! Additionally, my topping looks nothing like yours but does look like the photo on the epicurious website link. Overall, the dish is good and I will make it in the future but with additional tweaking.
Everybody seems to be afraid of a little tartness in their tarts, which is downright odd! I don’t know if this one’s Michael’s fault … but having watched his show a few times, I’m going to say that it probably is.
I’m delurking, was just looking for an opportunity because it’s just rude of me to enjoy so many of your recipes and not say Thank You. My DH and I have been enjoying at least one of your recipes a week since April 2007 when I found your Blog. The Apple Cranberry Crisp looked like a good candidate for a fruit filled breadfast dish on workday mornings or mid morning snack for those rushing out the door. I eliminated all the white sugar in the fruit mixture and we still found it too sweet. I’d cut the brown sugar down to 1/2 or 1/3 cup as the total amount. It’s hard to tell how tart those little cranbabies are going to be!
Have a wonderful, warm vacation and thank you for sharing your cooking life with us.
Laceflower in the Canadian Pacific Northwest, the WetCoast.
I made this last night with the reduced white sugar. It was delicious, and I especially liked the anise flavor, but I do think it could’ve done with less sugar. Next time! Also, like Monique, mine looked more like the photo on epicurious.
I’m de-lurking after more than a year for this! :)
I omitted the white sugar from the filling entirely. It’s perfect. (My co-workers are making happy noises, anyway.)
I did, however, have WAY too much topping — and I like extra topping on my crisp. (I put about half in the freezer until I can make another one.) What gives?
I make apple cranberry crisp that’s derived from the apple crisp recipe in Joy of Cooking. The filling is nothing but apples and cranberries (have to try the black pepper — sounds wonderful) and I replace the white sugar in the topping with brown. The topping as I make it is flour, brown sugar, butter and nutmeg. It’s just sweet enough for me. I like desserts that have complex flavors and some depth.
Hi Deb,
I tried this recipe and omitted the 1/3 cup white sugar. It tastes perfect without it.
Thanks for sharing this recipe!!!
i used 1/4 cup white sugar in the filling and it was a bit too sweet, i will leave it out completely next time. i also had a lot of left over topping! i prefer a dusting as opposed to a crust, so that might explain it.