Recipes from Aunt Flora -- JTR's Apple Crisp

Are you like me? Do you have an assortment of produce withering at the bottom of your crisper? Can't remember when you bought those apples, but too cheap to throw them away? Have a sweet tooth in need of satiating, but feel like it should be "healthy," so you should have something with fruit in it?

Et and viola!

Apple Crisp

1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 stick margarine (I used butter)

5 cups sliced apples (I used a variety)

Mix sugar, flour, spices and salt.
Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.
Spread [apples] over bottom of buttered 9 inch pan.
Sprinkle mixture over fruit.
Pat lightly with fingers.
Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

Let cool a little before diving in.

Serve Ala mode.

Or like I did -- with a fork and my arms protectively curled around it to prevent anyone from thinking of sharing.

Get sick about 1/2 way through pan. Have racing heart for rest of night, and then a sugar crash!*

* and yes, this means that no I.T. boys will be used for guinea pigs for the testing of this recipe. Sorry Tim.

Recipes from Grandma -- JTR Johnny Appleseed Bars

If I've read my e-mail correctly, this recipe is from my father's side of the family - his first cousin, Janean Tillery R-------s, daughter of Aunt Flora, Grandma Roa's niece. (Got that?) There are a lot of JTR recipes in the family cookbook - too many to ignore, especially if you have all of the ingredients for this recipe in your pantry - and two apples about to go bad right as you plan to go on a road trip. What to do? Bake, of course.

This recipe book is just chock full of intriguing things, but as you might see from the picture of the page that this appeared upon, it leaves much out in the way of instructions. And this is a GOOD page. It's legible and all of the pertinent info is there, unlike some of the others. OY!

Johnny Appleseed Bars

1 c. flour
½ t. soda [baking]
½ t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
1 c. oats
2/3 c. brown sugar
½ c. melted margarine [or salted butter]
1 egg
1 t. vanilla

Line 9x9 inch greased pan with 1/2 the mixture. Add 2 cups finely chopped apples. [Top with other ½ the mixture.] Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Sift top with powdered sugar after baking.

After I lined my 9x9 pan with foil, sprayed with non-stick spray, and covered the bottom part of the pan with the batter, I already figured out that I was going to be short on the dough. This either needs to be doubled, or needs an 8x8 pan, or I am too liberal on the bottom layer.

After I added the apple layer, and the remaining dough, it was abundantly clear that I was short. For the top layer, I mixed up a half batch of the dry ingredients with some vanilla, about ¼ cup butter and a whole egg and spread it over the top. It wasn’t as dry as the lower layer, but I figure my taste testers won’t care. I also liberally spread the top with sugar crystals to give it a sugary crunch instead of the powdered sugar – for ease of transport.

Recipes from Ollie J -- Another Apple Cake

When the calendar flips to September, I automatically start thinking of baking weather. The phantom aromas of baking spices like cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon start haunting me. Despite the humidity, the thermometer, or the logic, I have to fire up the oven.

I bought a pound of so of apples as part of my Hurricane Irene preparations, and since I was spared her wrath, figured I better use them up before they went bad. I cut it close; two had completely gone to moldy mush at the bottom of the bowl.

I hadn't done a Grandma recipe lately, so I pulled out Grandma Ollie J's little yellow recipe box looking for one of the first apple cake recipes I featured at the start of the culinary exploration. You know what? I couldn't find that card. I don't know where it is.

Instead I found another Apple Cake recipe, calling for more apples. A perfect way to use up supplies, and to take to the office to start up another school year.

Apple Cake
1 ½ cup oil (olive)
2 cups sugar (white)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon (added another teaspoon)
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups flour

Add and blend well

3 cups peeled and chopped apples
½ cup nuts (used some of the last of the NC/Grandma Ollie J family farm pecans, frozen since 1996, for a bit of authenticity)

Bake 350 degrees
50-60 minutes

Here's another instance of the recipe not telling us what size pan. With all these ingredients, it's fairly obvious that it needs to be a 9x13 pan. As for the cooking time, even through the oven had been pre-heated at 350 for over 2.5 hours thanks to the other two batches of brownies and cakes I made that afternoon, it took longer than 50-60 minutes. At the prescribed time, it was still "soupy" in the middle. I kept cooking it at 10 minute intervals until it was firm-ish, probably another 20-30 minutes. Then I turned the oven off and let it set for a bit before I transferred it to wire racks to cool over night.

For a gourmet topping, before I started baking it, I liberally garnished the batter with sugar crystals for a nice crunch.

We'll see what the office taste testers have to say. As of this writing, I don't know which office is getting it. I'm taking three pans of treats to work. I.T. is definitely getting something, but I don't know who is getting this Apple Cake.

Pardon the bad cell phone photo.

Apple Picking/Floral Photography 2010

Recipes from Forgotten Bookmarks: Johnny Appleseed Bars

Are you like me and secretly delighted when you find objects tucked into the pages of your library books? I've found things like train schedules, bookmarks, empty gum wrappers, and library patron receipts. My favorite was a really lovely poem that I've had embroidered to hang over my bed.

I know I've not the only one fascinated by what people leave behind in books. I remember spending a whole evening of one of my Library Science classes talking about this. We talked about what was cute, how sad some things were, and then the subject turned to the disgusting. (There's the archetypal story of the raw piece of bacon.) Beyond the classroom, many a listserv conversation explored the lost and left behind in the library books. Now a days, there are also many a blog dedicated to this subject.

It's not just librarians who find things in books. Used booksellers have their own tales to tell. One of them, Michael, has started a blog called Forgotten Bookmarks.

I was browsing the blog one day recently. My thoughts had turned to baking, as a hint of fall was in the air. I was also in an adventuresome mood, ready to take a safe risk ... so when I saw this recipe, I decided to take a chance on ...

Johnny Appleseed Bars

1 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 c oats
2/3 c brown sugar (packed)
1/2 c oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Mix together and press half of dough in 9" square pan [I used a 8x8 pan]

Sprinkle with 1 c nuts 2 c thin sliced apples [I ended up using 3-5 apples to get about 2 cups]

Spread rest of dough over nuts and apples, press down with pancake turner and smooth top

Bake 350 degrees - 25 min.

Cool and sift conf. sugar [skipped the powdered sugar]

Cut in bars

Since I had to compress this recipe into a smaller pan, the cake was really thick. I didn't even try to cut it into bars. Plus, when I tried to flip it out of the pan, it started to crumble. Instead I just divided it in half and tucked it into Ziploc containers for various friends at the Big J.

No one complained about the messiness of the baked treats. Apparently, it was better as a crumble than a set of bars. The reports I got was that all the flavors blended together in a big apple crumble yummy delight.

Could be eaten at room temp with a side of yogurt, or heated up and served ala mode.

Since I just went apple picking I'm going to try it again, but doubled on the dry ingredients. I'm also going to bake it in a 13x9 pan. Hopefully that will yield thinner bars.