What to Do With Ugly Apples
An Easy Apple Crisp Recipe for Anyone -- Memories Included
First of all I won’t torture you like some blogs do with a long story that you have to scroll through just to find the recipe Google sent you here for.
Here it is:
My Mom’s Easy Apple Crisp Recipe
That Being Said …
I usually make my mom’s apple crisp recipe in autumn because, well -- apples! Apple picking has been a family tradition. But we haven’t done it quite so much out in the Midwest as the kids got older.
Thankfully my friend Lexi delivered GIFT BAGS FULL of apples from her “harvest” to writing group this week so I had my fair share without the trip to the farm.
Plenty of the apples in the bag weren’t too pretty – some had spots, some were super wonky.
BAKING NOTE: These are the best apples for apple crisp.
If you are looking for apples for apple crisp, I personally wouldn’t worry too much about the varietal.
Instead:
Just pick the ugly apples.
Ugly apples taste good, too, and it only takes an extra second or two to peel around the bumps and remove the brown spots. And ugly apples taste better. Why?
Because they appreciate getting eaten!
Ok enough of the bad jokes.
Note, this is my Mom’s recipe, which needs to be remarked upon. Why?
My mom wasn’t known for her cooking — despite her thousands of hours in the kitchen.
In fact many a Howard story has been told about her “meatloaf” and turkey pizza and burnt cauliflower that she served in our youth.
But in all fairness, she loved sweets and was a good baker.
From her I learned the rare art of peeling apples with a dull paring knife and how to use up leftover frosting on graham crackers (stashed in the fridge … serve cold!) for a delicious dessert sandwich.
Following the Recipe
I’m not sure why, but my mom was good at making desserts. Maybe because she was mathematical and she could just follow the recipe.
Maybe it was her French heritage, demanding a final course.
Maybe it was because she wanted to end a bleh meal with something more memorable and beloved.
Maybe she just knew the truth: sugar is a surefire way to tell kids I love you.
Whatever the reason, on the regular we had pans of butterscotch or chocolate brownies (thank you, Betty Crocker!), apple pies and apple crisp, rhubarb (grown in the yard) desserts, Snickerdoodles, French pastry squares, cakes with butter cream frosting, ice cream dessert, marble layer cakes (for birthdays), and, of course, always chocolate chip cookies.
After all, flour and sugar were inexpensive, and it wasn’t too hard to replace butter for margarine, as budget required.
Baked in Love
Maybe my parents couldn’t buy fancy things and lots of birthday presents. But mom made up for with baked goods.
At Christmas, we helped make peanut butter cookies, fudge, homemade caramel corn, toffee and peanut brittle (sometimes), sugar cookies pressed with sprinkles, and, of course, the classic holiday treat: Wonderful Christmas Roll-Outs.
The cookie cutters came out from the back of the cupboard, stashed in a 1950s Styrofoam ice bucket with a blue Styrofoam lid.
The entire dining table would be covered with newsprint and thin bell, ornament, or tree shaped floury sugar cookies.
Mom and the older kids frosted in pink and mint green (Hey, that was the ‘70s and the era of Red Dye No. 2!); the rest of us sprinkled in green and red sugars and rainbow nonpareils.
Mom’s Food Reputation
Recently, at Thanksgiving, my siblings were talking about the great meals Colin always makes for us –- and conversely mom’s much-maligned Hamburger and Spaghetti Casserole. (Only John likes it – no wonder he was her favorite). It led to a torrent of stories about mom’s bad cooking followed by John’s interjection:
“Why do we always give mom a hard time in these stories? Don’t we ever have any good ones to tell?”
Well, I guess we had to think about that for a minute. But, truth is we tell all the stories — good or maybe a little ugly? — because it’s how we show love. Always has been.
Today, you get to take the “ugly apple” (crisp) with the good — a few good memories of my mom.
You got any good recipes + stories to share?
Drop them below! Or better yet
Submit to the old-fashioned community cookbook I am editing for WWKC.
Light-hearted teasing and ugly apples always welcome.
P.S. Props to my sisters — Kathy, Mary, and Ann, pictured above — who were chitty-chatting with me this morning as I baked the apple crisp above. We hemmed-and-hawwed over ingredients. Everyone should have such sisters!