Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Apple Crisp: Great fruit desserts for Ordinary Time


We are now in what is called "ordinary time"--we are poised between the festivities of the Christmas season and the austerities of Lent (which starts early this year, on February 17).

Let’s start exploring some delicious fruit desserts—they are great for ordinary or even extraordinary time! One of my little grand-daughters complained, "Fruit is a very boring dessert!" Actually, what she said (she is wobbly on her r’s) was "Fwoot is a vewy bowwing dessewt!" Many of us think that fresh fruit is in fact delicious—even for dessert. But we can all agree that baked fruit is wonderful. There is great recipe for Apple Crisp in A Continual Feast on p. 65, in the section titled "All the Days of our Lives." One little change though: my family loves lots of crust, so we often double the ingredients for the crust and bake the Apple Crisp in a large flat pan, to maximize the top surface. You can also add fresh or dried cranberries to the apples, for extra tang. Serve the Crisp a la mode to make it even more special.

2 comments:

  1. I love your grand-daughter's comment! Particularly in its original form! :)

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  2. This may be the "ordinary time" in the liturgical year, but in this part of Europe it is the time for carnivals. Just one example: In rural parts of my country men dress as part human-part animals and with large bells they try to scare winter away. The carnival season lasts until Ash Wednesday. On Tuesday children dress up and go round the neighbourhood; they are given sweets (usually special doughnuts).

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