Monday, May 5, 2008

Old friends are the best!

I had a craving for something sweet. So I turned to my old friend, Betty. Betty Crocker, that is. Betty taught me how to bake, with lots of photos to guide me through each recipe.

I pulled out Mother's cookbook nearly every Saturday, from second grade on. I was allowed to try new recipes with the stipulation that I cleaned the kitchen up before dinner time. Betty was my idol. She made it sound so easy. After college, I found my own copy of her cookbook at a garage sale for $3.00. What a deal!
One of my favorites is Betty's apple crisp. So simple. So good. So I decided to try her basic recipe with a gluten free twist.

Regular granulated sugar tastes too sweet for me these days. I found milled cane juice in the Mexican food section of my grocery store. It's not not so refined, and not so sweet. And it costs less than milled cane juice at the health food store. So it has become my default sugar.



Apple Crisp

1/3 C butter, room temperature
1 C brown rice flour
3/4 C sugar, or milled cane juice
A liberal sprinkling of cinnamon
A liberal sprinkling of salt
The juice of half a lime
Five large apples

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel and slice the apples. Place in a greased 8" x8" pan. Sprinkle with salt and cinnamon. Squeeze the lime over the apples.

Place the butter, rice flour and salt in the bowl of your mixer. Mix until no lumps of butter remain. Spread the topping over the apples and press it down.

Bake about 35 minutes, or until top starts to brown.

I've also made this recipe with canned "lite" peaches. Maybe my little peach tree will give me some fresh ones to try this fall. Sometimes I add blueberries or dried cranberries to the apple variety. If you can eat nuts, I think adding some almond meal to the topping would be tasty.


Milo says, "I just know Daddy Cat is on the counter,
licking the buttery topping off the apple crisp. He's so bad! I can't look!"

My baby bibb lettuces are looking perky!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have the same cookbook, it was my grandmother's -printed in 1950! My mother gave it to me when I came to college.

How did the rice flour work in the crumble top? I tried a crumble top once with rice flour and it came out kind of mealy. I'll also have to look for that sugar- I know what you mean about refined sugar being too sweet. I tend to half-and-half with brown sugar. Other than giving a little extra moisture, Brown sugar can add a slight caramel-y flavor. :)

Gluten free Kay said...

I've made this recipe half a dozen times, and it is always good. Sometimes I sub a little sucanat for sugar. Have you used it before? It's dark brown, and not as refined as brown sugar. It has this great molassas bite to it.

Yes, my cookbook was printed in 1950, too. I think my mom got hers for a wedding shower gift.

Melanie said...

That's probably the same recipe I have always used for Apple crisp. Although my Betty Crocker cookbook was from the 1970's! It's always been my favorite recipe.

Gluten Free Steve said...

I love Apple Crisp. We have this cookbook at home, too. I think ours is from the late 1930s - well used! You can't beat a classic.