What's a good picnic recipe using APPLES?

September 15, 2004 11:48 AM

Today's theme ingredient is...APPLES! What apple-based dessert recipe would you recommend for a picnic? 1) I don't care much for the very tart varieties of apple (e.g., Granny Smith), so I prefer a recipe that uses, or at least works with, the less tart varieties. 2) There will be several hours between baking and serving, so it should be servable at room temperature. 3) I'm reasonably skilled in the kitchen; you need not shy away from more difficult recipes.
posted by DevilsAdvocate to food & drink (13 comments total)

Why, apple crumble, of course.
posted by the fire you left me at 11:53 AM on September 15, 2004

I made this apple crisp recipe (minus the walnuts) to rave reviews last night-- bordering on orgasmic, really. It's extremely decadent (read: not lo-carb or lo-anything) but soooo good.
posted by bonheur at 12:08 PM on September 15, 2004

Harvest Baked Apples
posted by riffola at 12:11 PM on September 15, 2004

Not really picnic-worthy, but an easy apple dessert that impresses dinner guests:

1. Peel and slice one apple per dinner guest

2. Melt half a stick of butter on a baking sheet (a sided one, so the butter does not drip off).

3. Place the apples on the sheet and sprinkle liberally with brown sugar, then add 1/4 cup Calvados.

4. Broil until the apples have lightly browned.

5. Serve over vanilla ice cream while the apples are still warm.
posted by briank at 12:19 PM on September 15, 2004

I don't have a "real" recipe for it, but here's the idea: make individual sized rustic apple tarts. Prepare a crust however you normally do so (personally, I use the Cuisinart method because you can use really cold butter, which makes for really flaky crust, but you can use a mix or those "sticks" of prepared dough) and roll it out to about 1/4" thick. Chunk up three or four big apples and throw them in a bowl - the place I'm stealing this from uses apples cut into about sixths, which makes for some pretty big chunks, but you can make then smaller if you want. To the apples, add a couple tablespoons of flour, a couple teaspons of cinnamon and a teaspoon of nutmeg, then toss the whole mixture together. Now, cut out squares of the dough, four to six inches on a side. On each square, put a big scoop of the apple mixture and pull the corners up towards the middle. Smush the sides up, too, so the fruit mixture doesn't leak out. The whole point is that these are supposed to be "rustic," so don't make 'em look nice and orderly. Bake them at 350° until the crust is browned and the fruit is bubbly. They're great with a dollop of good quality vanilla ice cream in them, or served plain at room temperature.
posted by JollyWanker at 12:42 PM on September 15, 2004

There's a nice apple-cheese-port pie in one of the Moosewood cookbooks, if you can get your hands on it. I believe it's in Enchanted Broccoli Forest, but it could be in the original Moosewood Cookbook. If you're interested, I can post the recipe when I get home this evening.
posted by Johnny Assay at 1:12 PM on September 15, 2004

I would go for an apple clafouti.

Unfortunately, my known good recipe is at home, but there are TONS of recipes out there for this - a search should turn up more than enough to get you started.
posted by Caviar at 1:19 PM on September 15, 2004

caramel apples? food newtork suggests this method (i prefer sara moulton's but hers works best with tart apples). bon appetit's method, although they also suggest granny smiths.
posted by crush-onastick at 1:28 PM on September 15, 2004

self-contained apple crisp might work.

Scoop out the center of an apple, but leave a bottom. That is, core it, but not all the way through. If you scoop out some extra bits around the core, that's fine too. Now you have an apple with a pit.

Squirt some honey into the pit, and fill the rest of it with streusel topping.

Bake until as gooshy as you want.

The more formal recipe is online at foodtv; it's from an episode of Good Eats.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 3:33 PM on September 15, 2004

Moosewood Book of Desserts has a recipe for a ginger apple crisp that I have not had, but looks damn good. I will email/post the recipe if you want.
posted by kenko at 4:00 PM on September 15, 2004

I second Apple Crisp.
I become the goddess among all goddessess when I make it.
posted by rhapsodie at 6:53 PM on September 15, 2004

Thanks for the recommendations, everyone--I'll probably give a test run to a couple of these this weekend. If anyone's coming late to this thread, don't let me stop you from adding your favorites. Johnny Assay, kenko, no need to post or email the recipes--I have easy access to the various Moosewood cookbooks. Thanks again!
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 10:12 PM on September 15, 2004

Apple Caramel Bread Pudding! This recipe says to serve warm, but bread pudding is just fine at room temp., too.
posted by taz at 6:41 AM on September 16, 2004