Success: Apple Brown Betty

Sunday, April 3, 2022

Still dealing with a few more baking apples from our local shopping trip. 'Thought I might try my hand at this Apple Brown Betty from the American Girl Dolls Samantha's Cookbook, from my childhood. Why not?

It came out well, although, I cannot remember what it tasted like as a child (when we brought home way too many bushels of apples from the orchard). I had to swap half the breadcrumbs for panko crumbs, so I think it came out quite a bit chunkier than expected, but still very tasty. Especially served warm with a scoop of malted vanilla ice cream. It also seems I should've sifted the confectioner's sugar for the hard sauce, as little sugar spheres ended up on the surface of the apple brown betty. Still tastes good, though!

Recipe

Ingredients:

• 4-5 apples
• 1.5c plain bread crumbs
• 0.5c brown sugar (dark or light)
• 3 Tbsp butter (chopped into small pieces)
• 1/3 cup milk (or apple cider)
• 1-2 tsp cinnamon
• Hard sauce:
• 1/3 cup butter (cut into chunks)
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar, sifted (for aesthetics)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Grease the bottom and sides of an 8×8 inch pan with butter or cooking spray.
3. Peel, core, and chop the apples into 1/4" slices.
4. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the bread crumbs onto the bottom of the pan.
5. Layer half of the apples, 1/4 cup of brown sugar and 1 Tbsp of the butter (laid evenly over the apple slices). Sprinkle 0.5-1 tsp cinnamon over everything.
6. Add a second layer of breadcrumbs and repeat with another layer of apples, butter, cinnamon, and sugar as before.
7. Top with 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs and 1 Tbsp butter. Pour 1/3 cup milk over top.
8. Bake at 375˚ for 30-45 minutes. While baking, take the 1/3 cup butter for the hard sauce, cut it into chunks and put it in a bowl to soften.
   • Keep a close watch on this while it bakes. Once the top is a medium brown, it's done.
9. When you take it out of the oven, make the hard sauce: Cream the softened butter together with the powdered sugar and the vanilla.
10. Dab the sauce over the top of the apple brown betty while it is still warm. This allows the sauce to melt into the dessert.
11. You can serve immediately, or wait until it cools.

This recipe is a pinch more effort than the apple crisp. Requires layering of ingredients, making a hard sauce, etc. /the effort is rewarded with more crunch and breadiness, but it's not entirely clear why one would opt for the brown betty over the crisp.