Raspberry Almond Crisp
For me, fall is the season for rustic fruit desserts. Crisps, cobblers, grunts, crumbles, slumps, pandowdys and brown bettys; all homey variations on the classic fruit-sugar-butter combination. Raspberries come into their prime in early fall, so this past weekend, my sister and I did some fall raspberry picking. After gorging ourselves on as many of the berries as we could eat raw, I was ready to bake. I wanted to make an unembellished dessert that would highlight the raspberries, while gently blanketing them in a snug bed of crisped almonds, butter and sugar. Crisps have a lot going for them, they are reliable, take well to innovation and substitutions and can be easily whipped up with whatever ingredients you have on hand. This Raspberry Almond Crisp smells amazing, and makes a perfect early autumn treat.
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients:
Almond crisp topping:
- 10 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup almonds, ground or finely chopped
- 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
Raspberry mixture:
- 3 pints raspberries (4 generous cups) washed
- 3 teaspoons lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 375.
- For the crisp topping: In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (sugars, flour, salt, almonds). Add the melted butter, vanilla and almond extracts and mix with your hands to combine. The texture should resemble wet sand. Reserve the crisp topping in the freezer until ready to bake.
- For the raspberry mixture: Gently mix together the raspberries, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, salt and flour until raspberries are coated.
- Grease 6 small skillets/ramekins (or one 9 inch pie pan). Fill container(s) three-quarters full with berry mixture, and carefully pat the crisp topping onto berries.
- Bake for 40 minutes until the crisp is golden and the raspberry filling is bubbling. Let cool for 15-30 minutes. Even though the smell is incredible, the berries will burn your mouth if you dig in too soon (yes, this based on personal experience…multiple times this week!).
Hoosier Milk Tarts with Berries
With 89 votes, the good readers of The Hungry Hounds clearly had a hankering for a Hoosier (or Indiana) style dessert. Having spent a combined 14 years in the Hoosier heartland, this mandate warmed our mid-western bellies! One of Indiana's finest culinary traditions is Hoosier Milk Pie (alternatively known as Indiana Sugar or Cream Pie). Hoosier Milk Pie came to Indiana in the mid 1800's with Quaker and Amish homesteaders. It is a homey, dairy-rich custard-style pie with a stove-top filling. Hoosier Milk Pie is egg-less, which is great for those with allergies, makes it easy to cook (no curdling), and allows the clean milk flavor to take the limelight. A crisp flaky crust (whole wheat in this case) paired with the milk custard partners beautifully with fresh ripe berries. To make this pie your own, substitute any fruit you'd like, eat it unadorned, or add whipped cream as is traditional in some parts of Indiana. Either way, you are going to love this easy and versatile pie.
Almond Meringues with Creme Anglaise & Berry Sauce, Îles Flottantes
Sumptuous Îles Flottantes, "floating islands," are a rustic French dessert. Part custard, part meringue; think of these as decadent deconstructed egg desserts. We were first introduced to this old-fashioned dish on a trip to France, where Paul ordered it for dessert on a whim. He developed something of an obsession with this quirky dish, and would call ahead to restaurants to confirm they made it from scratch. On his fourth round of Îles Flottantes, he finally persuaded me to dip my spoon, and in a creamy instant, I too become a devoted fan. For Paul's birthday this month, we decided to create our own simplified and less sweet version of Îles Flottantes. We ditched the step of poaching the meringues, and baked ours scented with almond. We served these toasted almond meringues floating in a creamy bath of egg yolk thickened creme anglaise with a fresh berry sauce for a bright fruit contrast to all that creamy goodness. Note that the quality and flavor of your eggs make a huge difference in this dish, so use the best eggs you can find (we used local Clarion River Organics).
Salted Caramel & Pear Bread Pudding
Dessert descriptions are thorny things. When it comes to sweet things I find that eloquence often fails me, and unhelpfully divide desserts into two camps, delicious… or, not. While clear cut, these categories do not offer the reader much to recommend this decadent Salted Caramel & Pear Bread Pudding. Besides the obvious “delicious, ”a brief description is in order. Salted Caramel & Pear Bread Pudding has some great things going for it. The bread is toasted to maximize its ability to absorb all the decadent custard, the custard is silky and aromatic with a whopping ¼ cup of vanilla, and is further treated to a topping of caramelized pears with accompanying pan sauce of pear infused salted caramel. For all its flavor and texture complexity, this dessert is also subtle and balanced. This recipe is adapted from one of our favorite cookbooks: Rustic Fruit Desserts. The gorgeous pears for this dish come from our Penn's Corner CSA.
Apple Almond Tart
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some eat greatness in an apple tart. We count ourselves in the third category. Our Apple Almond Tart is a trifecta of dessert greatness. A crisp and flaky butter pastry base, creamy almond cheese filling, and delicately cooked apples for tart contrast. We recommend that you go ahead and double this recipe the first time, as we we polished off an entire tart ourselves in record speed.
Berry Dutch Baby
I was in the mood for a new breakfast dish one morning a few years ago, as I hungrily browsed the web for inspiration. The promise of both incredible lift and alluring creamy texture initially drew me to the Dutch Baby. This is an odd name for a fantastic hybrid dish that brings together the best of a popover, crepe, and pancake: spectacular poof, crispy edges, and subtly sweet custard-like middle. Rush your guests to the table as this flamboyant beauty of a breakfast dish comes out of oven!
