Brown Betty / Apple Brown Betty

Brown betty is one of those 'apple' based desserts dating back to colonial times in America. Apple betty was originally created to use up the stale bread and it is a rustic bread pudding. Sweetened and spiced apple slices were arranged in layers with bread crumbs or stale bread, mixed with butter and then baked. The recipe probably used brown sugar / molasses as processed, refined sugar at that time was an expensive commodity. The recipes uses white bread though I have substituted it with wheat one here. Berries or pears can be substituted for apples in the recipe. Apple betty is usually served warm with lemon sauce, whipped cream or ice cream.

The dish was first mentioned in print in 1864 in the Yale Literary Magazine, with 'brown' in lower case thus making 'Betty' the proper name. It is widely believed that it was perhaps alluding to the race of the cook rather than the browning of buttered breadcrumbs during baking. A recipe from 1877 used apple sauce and cracker crumbs to prepare apple betty. There is one more version from 'Better Homes and Gardens' published in 1970s. Whatever the method used, apple betty is quite an easy one to prepare.

Apple betty is said to be one of Reagans' favorite dessert in White house. Not surprising considering how good this betty tastes. I halved the recipe since I was expecting to serve only two and regretted it as soon as I tasted it. Everyone loved it, fresh out of the oven served with vanilla ice cream.

Source: Here
Ingredients:
4 cups Granny Smith or any baking apples * (I used honeycrisp.)
4 cups white sandwich bread slices (I used brown.)
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed (divided)
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
3 tbsp. butter + extra for greasing the pan

Directions:
* Preheat the oven to 375 deg F. Grease a 7x11 inch baking dish with butter. 
* Peel, core and slice the apples thinly.
* Slice breads into dices or tear into small pieces.

* Sprinkle 1/4 cup brown sugar in the prepared pan and arrange half of the apple slices evenly. 

* Add half of the bread crumbs. 

* Then sprinkle cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.

* Repeat the layers of sugar, apple, bread crumbs and spices again.
* Slice the butter and lay them over the bread crumbs. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar.

* Cover the baking dish with aluminium foil and bake until done, about 30 - 40 minutes.
* Remove the foil carefully during the last few minutes of baking to brown the top. 

* Increase the sugar level by 1/4 cup if using Granny Smith apples.

This cake goes to Bakeathon and Blogging Marathon #95 under the theme 'Bookmarked recipes' events.


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A - Z Andhra Recipes ~ F for Fine Biscuits

 
For the uninitiated, I am doing a blogging marathon this month, based on Andhra cuisine, going in an alphabetical order. Today is the turn for alphabet 'F' and this is one of those tricky letters where you land up with zero recipes in Andhra cuisine. Zero recipes that is, if you are looking for recipes with regional names beginning with that alphabet as there is no 'F' sounding culinary terms in the local dialect. 

When I sat down to plan my recipes for this month's marathon, I tackled the difficult alphabets first to make sure that there are indeed Andhra recipes that represented each alphabet. If not for the 'regional name' marathon rule, I would have not bothered with the usage of the English names for dishes. I have the option of using English names for only three dishes in this marathon and definitely there are more than three alphabets that need maneuvering because of lack of recipes with regional names.
 
Being a south Indian, the first 'F' dish that came to mind was filter coffee but I had to discard the idea immediately for two reasons. My husband who is the only coffee consumer in my home has switched over to tea recently and getting a bag of coffee powder for blog's sake made no sense. Besides, filter coffee is not unique to the state and is consumed all over south India.
 
Then I remembered seeing fine biscuits from Hyderabad some time back, here. The region also has two desserts starting with F which are popular in parts of India influenced by the Muslim reign. They are the 'falooda' and 'firni' aka phirni, for which I have already posted the recipes. Hyderabad is currently acting as the capital city for both Andhra pradesh and the newly formed state, Telangana. I visit the city during my India trips but mostly they are like and 'blink and miss' kind because of our tight schedules and are meant to visit siblings. We don't get to explore much of the city or the food. I have tasted other variety of Hyderabadi biscuits in my SIL's house but not these fine biscuits. These seem to be a part of Irani cafes there and these yummy, flaky biscuits are made with puff pastry sheets. They are like our version of palmiers and are supposedly as big as a hand. I made medium sized ones and the version I made had a balanced amount of sweetness. I did not have the crystalline sugar (which by the way is the common sugar in Indian kitchens) and used the regular sugar (which is almost powdery in U.S). And so one gets to see the white layer on the biscuits which I am sure not a part of the looks of the original version. However everyone at home enjoyed the biscuits. I used a ready made puff pastry sheet for convenience. The recipe below is for general guide lines and so no mention of quantities of ingredients. 
 
Method:
1 Puff Pastry Sheet
Sugar for rolling the biscuits
All purpose flour for dusting
Milk for brushing

Method:
* Thaw the puff pastry according the package directions or for about 30 - 40 minutes.
 
* Keep a plate of sugar and a plate of flour handy.
* Roll the pastry sheet thinly, dusting the work surface with flour as needed.
 
* Gently brush the top with milk and sprinkle sugar. (I skipped the step since my daughter prefers subtly sweet stuff.)
* Preheat the oven to 350 deg F.
* Starting from the wider side, roll it tightly. Roll the log a couple of times with your palms to make sure that it is not opening up. 

* Cut them into one inch pieces. 
(This size yields the actual palm sized biscuits sold at the bakeries and that's what is shown in the images. I realized in between that they are going to be big and instead cut into 1/2" pieces which yield two inches biscuits. 1/4" inch cuts should yield smaller sized biscuits if you are looking to portion control.)
* Again dust the work surface with flour. Gently press each cut portion into a disc and roll into thin ovals. Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle sugar. (I did it on both sides.)
 
* Arrange them on a greased or foil lined baking sheet until the tops start turning golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

So far on A - Z Andhra Cuisine,
A for Alasanda Vada
B for Bellam Garelu
C for Chiyali
D for Dondakaaya Kaarapu Kaaya
E for Endu Kobbari Podi

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 63.

An InLinkz Link-up

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Oven Baked, Eggless Apple Pancake

Here is a breakfast idea, to savor on a lazy weekend without actually hovering around the stove. This apple pancake, redolent with cinnamon flavor is baked in an oven instead of using a stove. I tweaked the recipe to suit my preferences and my daughter was totally sold on these pancakes.

Recipe idea: Betty Crocker 
Ingredients: (Serves 2 or 3)
1/4 cup warm milk
1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp. butter / margarine (Even a tbsp. would work.)
1/2 cup milk at room temperature
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1 small apple, thinly sliced
1&1/2 tsp. cinnamon sugar
Maple syrup to serve (optional)

Method:
* Combine apple cider vinegar and 1/4 cup warm milk in a small bowl and leave it aside for about 5 minutes.
* Preheat the oven to 400 degree F.
* While the oven is heating, melt the butter in a 9 inch glass pie plate, placing it in the oven. Or melt the butter in a microwave.
* Whisk milk & vinegar mixture, the remaining 1/2 cup milk, and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Add flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon sugar and whisk until a lump free batter is formed. Pour the mixture into the butter pan. Arrange the apple slices evenly on the batter.
* Place the batter pan in the preheated oven and bake until the edges are deep golden brown. The original recipe mentions to bake for about 20 minutes though I had to bake longer. Besides I was caught up in something else and forgot to remove it on time. No harm was done but only the whole pancake turned golden brown through out and the color of the apple peel was not noticeable anymore.

This goes to Blogging marathon #60 under the theme 'Bookmarked Recipes'. Check the link to see what other marathoners are cooking.



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Banana Crisp

Apple and peach crisp gets made frequently in my kitchen as my kids love them. I tried it with banana this time as I had plenty of bananas on hand and made a chocolaty version for my daughter.  My son and I preferred the nut version more than the chocolate one. Soft, gooey bananas with a crisp oat - brown sugar topping tastes delicious. If using nuts, cinnamon / vanilla flavors can be added as well. Below recipe yields one serving and can be made in a ramekin for individual serving. Increase the proportions to make more servings.

Ingredients: (one serving)

1 banana
1 tbsp. coarsely chopped walnuts / chocolate chips
2 tsp. sugar if banana is not sweet (optional)
Ingredients for topping:
2 tbsp. quick cooking oats
1 tbsp. wheat flour / all purpose flour
2 to 3 tbsp. brown sugar
1.5 tbsp melted butter

Method:
* Preheat the oven to 375 degree F.
* Thinly slice the bananas. Combine banana slices, sugar and chocolate chips / nuts if using in a bowl or directly in a ramekin / baking dish.
* Combine oats, flour, brown sugar and butter in another bowl. Spread the topping mixture over the banana slices evenly. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes.
* Serve warm, with ice cream if preferred.
 
This is my entry to
1. Blogging marathon #53.
2. Srivalli's 'Kids' Delight' event hosted by Harini this month with the theme 'Fruits'.
 
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Veggie Wednesday ~ Okra Fry

If you are wondering whether I have burnt or charred the fry, I did not and trust me, that fry tastes delicious. I usually toast okra in the oven to the point where they turn crisp and loose all their 'green' color. I do it on purpose each time I roast okra as everyone in my family loves it that way. Trust me, if not for this post, you would not have noticed those green pieces of okra in the above picture. :) However if cooking my way, one has to pay attention at the final stages of the cooking since our aim is not to burn the okra but turn it into crispy pieces.

Okra fry is loved by everyone in our family and especially it is my daughter's favorite dish. My husband remembers to bring home okra whenever he spots the fresh ones, for her sake. Some go into making this fry and some to the Andhra style dal. The oven toasting cuts down the oil usage considerably compared to the stove-top roasting and I prefer the oven method when I want my vegetables to be crispy and guilt-free. I mostly cook okra, tindora and potatoes this way.

Okra is one of those vegetables which turn slimy if they are wet / have any trace of water on them while chopping. Here is a tip to avoid the sticky situation and save time in sitting and dry wiping each okra. Wash and drain the okra completely and leave them overnight or a few hours (depending on when okra are needed) on a thick towel to dry out or lay them on one half of the towel and cover them with the other half. By morning they will all be clean and completely dry. Then proceed with the chopping as the recipe requires.

Ingredients:

About 2 cups finely chopped okra / 45 okra

3 to 4 tbsp. oil

Salt and chili powder to taste

Method:

* Preheat the oven to 400 deg F.

* Chop off the tips and finely chop the okra pods. Try to keep them in same size for uniform cooking. Add the chopped okra and oil to a bowl and mix well so that each okra piece is coated generously with oil.

* Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil (for easy cleanup later.)

* Spread the okra pieces on the prepared baking sheet. Slight overcrowding will do since the quantity of okra is going to be reduced after some minutes of baking.

* Bake until the desired consistency is reached, flipping once or twice intermittently. Pay attention at the final stages of baking to avoid burning.

* Remove them from oven and transfer to a serving bowl. Sprinkle salt and chili powder as needed and toss to combine.

* Serve with hot steamed rice.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 51.

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An InLinkz Link-up

Cheddar Cheese PopCorn

For the last 'Cheese' post this week, I wanted to showcase something that my kids really enjoy, the cheddar cheese popcorn. This is a simple and quick dish to put together and can be a great homemade gift to give others during holiday season. My daughter crazily loves cheese and eats in some form or other everyday for at least one of her meals. One of those happily devoured forms is this yummy, cheddar cheese coated popcorn. I indulge her though I cannot understand her addiction. :)

If you don't have the cheese powder, then the processed cheese powder that comes in the macaroni & cheese box can be substituted. I keep our popcorn just cheesy but chili powder / mustard powder / or any other flavors can be added as well in the recipe. Mix them with the cheese powder and proceed as directed.

 Ingredients:
About 6 cups / 1.5 quarts Popped corn
5 - 6 tbsp. Cheddar cheese powder 
3 to 4 tbsp. Melted butter

Method:
* Preheat the oven to 120 deg C / 250 deg F.
* Pop the corn kernels in whichever method you choose to pop - on the stove top, microwave or the popcorn maker. 
To microwave, put about a handful of corn kernels in a brown bag, fold the bag twice at the top edges and put it in the microwave. Pop them for about a minute, shake the bag once vigorously and microwave again for another half a minute or so. It took about 90 to 95 seconds for me but the time varies depending upon the strength of a microwave. Remove the bag once you stop hearing the popping noise or else it may get burnt easily if cooked for longer than the required amount of time. 

* Separate out the corn kernels that were not popped. You may try to pop them once more as some of them do pop the second time.
* Transfer the popcorn to a wide mixing bowl. Pour the butter over it and shake to coat. Then add the cheese mixture and again shake the bowl for the cheese to coat evenly.
* Pour the cheese coated popcorn onto a baking sheet evenly and bake in the pre-heated oven, stirring once in between. Bake for about 8- 10 minutes or until the cheese dries up and the pop corn is crunchy. 
(I prefer baking after the cheese mixture is poured over the popped corn. Baking gives a uniformly crunchy popcorn without burning. The baking part can be skipped and the cheese coated pop corn can be again put in a brown bag and popped for about 25 - 30 seconds. It will turn crisp in a short time compared to baking but gets burnt quickly.)
* Enjoy it immediately or cool the popcorn and store it in an airtight container.

This goes to 
1. Blogging Marathon #49, with the theme "Cheese".
2. 'Kids Delight' event, with the theme 'Cheese'.

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Hot Buttered Soft Pretzels

 When I was planning for the "accompaniments" or the "complimentary starters" themed dishes for this week's BM, I automatically had to rule out the Indian restaurants since the only complimentary stuff they offer is papads or poppadums, the thin lentil wafers. I don't care much about them and in fact feel like gagging to eat them alone. My initial ideas were revolving around 'Olive Garden's salad and bread sticks and the breads at American restaurants. 
And so I had prepared in advance some bread sticks as planned but the various breads I had bookmarked earlier from here kept tempting me to try one more bread recipe for today. Many American restaurants are trying to do away with the complimentary bread basket as a cost cutting measure but I gather there are still plenty of places that offer good varieties of bread. I read somewhere that a restaurant offers hot, soft pretzels and that prompted me to try this recipe.

 As the name suggests these pretzels hot from the oven are generously buttered. They taste delicious with a soft and chewy texture and we enjoyed them thoroughly. We generally don't like the salt on pretzels and so I omitted it. 

Ingredients for the pretzel dough:
2 & 1/2 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 & 1/4 tsp. rapid rise yeast 
7/8 to 1 cup water
Ingredients for the topping:
1 cup boiling water
2 tbsp. baking soda
Coarse / pretzel salt (optional)
3 tbsp. melted butter 

Dough Preparation:
* The dough can be prepared by hand or by using a mixer or a bread machine or food processor. Add all the dry ingredients in a bowl and beat until combined if using a mixer or preparing manually. Knead the dough for about five minutes, by hand or mixer, until it's soft and smooth. 

If using a bread machine, place the ingredients in the pan of the bread machine and program the the machine for dough / manual and start. Proceed through the kneading cycle and stop the machine.
* Flour the dough and place it in a bowl. Cover and allow it to rest for about 30 minutes.

Prep work before baking:
* Prepare the topping at the final stages of the resting period. Combine boiling water and baking soda, stirring until the soda is completely dissolved. Let it cool to lukewarm. Pour the mixture into a 9 inch square pan.
* Prepare the baking sheet by greasing or lining with parchment paper.

* Transfer the mixture onto a greased work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces of about 70 grams or 2.5 oz each. (I divided the mixture into 16 portions instead.) Allow the pieces to rest for about five minutes, uncovered.
* Preheat the oven to 475 deg F / 250 deg C
* Roll each piece of dough into a thin, long rope (about 28 inches or so) and twist each one into a pretzel. Place the pretzels in the pan with baking soda solution, working with four pretzels at a time. Spoon the water over their tops and leave them in the water for about 2 minutes. 

* Gently remove and place them on the prepared baking sheet. 
* Sprinkle lightly coarse / pretzel salt over the tops, if desired. allow them to rest, uncovered for 10 minutes.

* Bake them for about 8 to 9 minutes or until they are golden brown.
* Remove them from the oven and brush them thoroughly with melted butter, until you use up all the butter.
* Serve them warm or reheat them in the oven or a microwave.


Notes:
* I used active dry yeast and so initially did the yeast proofing before the dough preparation. If using active dry yeast, add salt, sugar, yeast and water in a bowl. Allow it to sit for about 5 minutes, or until it foams. Add flour and prepare the dough as instructed. Allow it to rise it until the dough doubled in volume.
* The final dough should be on the softer side. Use the lesser amount water mentioned in the summer and the greater amount in winter.
* I didn't sprinkle any salt on pretzels as I don't personally prefer it.
* The baking soda "bath" is supposed to give the pretzels a nice golden brown color. I have baked earlier stuff involving 'baking soda bath' and I think why my pretzels are not uniformly browned is because either the quantity of baking soda water prepared
here was not enough or a smaller pan should have been used for the baking soda solution. A smaller pan would allow the pretzels to completely dip in the solution. 

Check here to know what other marathoners are cooking during this blogging marathon.

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No Knead Artisan Free Form Loaf / No Knead Crusty White Bread

 Many American restaurants offer a complimentary bread basket when lunch / dinner is ordered. In our area, it is mostly in the form of baguette / rolls and so I thought of trying a baguette with a make-shift pan for this week's 'complimentary starters' theme. Somehow the plan did not go accordingly and I chose to go with this no knead crusty loaf. I found this recipe on the all purpose flour packet, which in turn was inspired from the book 'Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day'. The idea behind this bread is that each loaf takes about 5 minutes of active preparation excluding the rising and baking periods. You prepare or rather mix the dough in bulk, refrigerate it and use it later when needed. When ready to bake, a portion of the dough is allowed to rise at room temperature for about an hour and then baked.  

As the title suggests, it is a no knead bread and very easy and quick to put together. It tastes amazing with soft chewy interior and a crisp crust. Flour, salt, yeast and water are the only ingredients needed to make this bread. The prepared dough is allowed to rise and then left in the refrigerator until ready to bake. You can dump everything into a bowl and just mix to combine using a wooden spoon if you are not looking forward for a cleanup job later. My dough was prepared in no time as I quartered the recipe for this loaf. The dough can be refrigerated anywhere from a couple of hours to couple of weeks. It can be shaped round or in form of a loaf . 

 Ingredients: (Yields 3 or 4 loaves)
3 cups lukewarm water
1 tbsp. rapid rise / active dry yeast
1 tbsp. salt
6 & 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour (measured by 'scoop and sweep' method)
Cornmeal / parchment paper for the pizza peel or baking sheet

Preparing the bread dough:
* Mix yeast, water and salt. Add all the flour and mix until uniformly moist, using a wooden spoon or a stand mixer. The dough is going to be sticky and loose. Transfer the dough to a bowl and cover it with a lid or a plastic wrap and allow it to rise for about 2 hours at room temperature. 
(If preparing the dough using the above proportions, use a 5 quart container or bowl to mix and store the dough. The dough is going to double or rise some more. And so use a container accordingly to store the dough.)
* Refrigerate the dough for at least three hours. (It would be easier to work with the dough if refrigerated.)
* The dough can be shaped and baked the same day it's mixed or can be left in a lidded container (not air-tight) or a loosely covered bowl for up to 14 days. The longer the dough sits in the refrigerator, the tangier it gets.
(I prepared the dough in the evening and didn't take any pictures.)

Preparation for baking:
* When ready to bake the bread, keep the work surface floured.
* Sprinkle some flour over the surface of the bread dough. This makes it easier to grab a chunk of the dough. Cut off about 1 pound piece or 1/4 to 1/3rd portion (or about a grape fruit size) of the dough. Alternately you can grease your palms and pull out the required piece of dough. Cover the remaining dough and refrigerate again, to use it later.
* Plop the sticky dough onto the floured work surface and shape it it into a smooth ball or a log. There is no need to fuss about shaping it perfectly. Slight imperfection is ok since it is going to look rustic anyway.

* Prepare a pizza peel with cornmeal or parchment, if using . Place the shaped dough on it (if a baking stone is going to be used) or onto a greased / parchment lined baking sheet. Sift a light coating of flour over the top. (It is to keep the dough moist during the resting period before baking.) 
* Allow the dough to rise for about 60 minutes. (There is no need to cover the dough at this point but I covered it anyway with a thin cotton towel.) The dough may not rise much during this time but may expand. 

Baking:
* At the final stages of rising, preheat the oven (and baking stone if using) to 450 deg F. Place a metal broiler pan / shallow metal pan or a cast iron pan on the lowest oven rack. Keep a cup of hot water ready.
* Slash the bread crosswise at 2 -3 places with a sharp knife, about 1/2 inch deep. 

* Place the bread in the oven, carefully pour the hot water into the shallow pan on the rack beneath and close the oven door quickly.
* Bake the bread until it develops a golden brown crust, about 25 - 35 minutes.
* Remove the bread and allow it cool completely. Store the leftover bread in a plastic bag at room temperature.

Check here to see what other marathoners are cooking during BM #49.

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