APPLE-OATMEAL CRISP WITH IRISH WHISKEY CREAM
17 mar 2006

INGREDIENTS
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 pounds rome beauty or winesap apples, peeled, cored, & sliced
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons irish whiskey
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
pinch salt
1/4 cup irish oatmeal
1/4 cup toasted, chopped walnut pieces
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
irish whiskey cream (recipe follows)

METHOD
preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. lightly butter an 11 by 7-inch baking pan & set aside.

in a large skillet, melt 3 tablespoons of butter over medium-high heat. add the apples, lemon juice, 1/2-cup of the brown sugar, & 1 tablespoon of the flour. stir well, & cook 5 minutes. add the whiskey, cinnamon, cardamom, & salt, stir well, & cook for 1 minute. remove from the heat.

in a large bowl combine the remaining flour, oatmeal, & remaining 1/2-cup sugar. add the remaining 5 tablespoons of butter, & with your fingers or a pastry blender, work the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. add the walnuts & mix well.

place the apple mixture in the greased pan & sprinkle the crumb mixture evenly over the top. bake until golden brown & bubbly, about 35 to 40 minutes. serve hot with the irish whiskey cream:

1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons irish whiskey

whip the cream until it begins to form soft peaks. add the sugar & whiskey & beat until stiff peaks form. cover & chill until needed.

DEVIATIONS & OBSERVATIONS
again with the baking pan size issue -- well, 9x9 is approximately the same as 11x7, right? let's hope so, b/c that's all i've got that's even close.

& deep breath, b/c for such an easy recipe, i made a shocking number of omissions, starting with: cardamom. b/c $12 a bottle = no. especially for a measly quarter of a teaspoon. i'm sure it adds something, but sing it with me: $12.

i used pink lady apples b/c they were the only appropriate baking apples i could find at dierberg's last night around 9pm. totally ignored the merest hint of a suggestion of walnuts, as it's been established previously that i apparently can't stand them. & the irish whiskey? i don't even know where to start. so i didn't. i'm not too broken up about it b/c i generally can't stand the taste of liquor in desserty things, but i just thought i should put it out there that i really screwed around with the recipe a fair amount.

so let me start by saying that there's no way this so-called "20 minutes" of prep time could be accurate in any universe that involves peeling 2 pounds of apples unless it's a magic universe where apples have skins like bananas. but here on earth, they don't, & so 20 minutes of prep time is more like an hour when you factor in all the tedious peeling. which, fine. i'm just saying.

cooking the apples in the skillet was a minor challenge, what with my burners being horridly off-kilter & my skillet verging on too small, but i persevered & it worked out just fine. the brown sugar/butter combo totally turned into this syrupy bubbly awesome delicious mess & it smelled, as my grandma would say, heavenly. for serious.

& apart from all the previously mentioned omissions, it's pretty much your standard apple crisp.

is it wrong that i'm way more excited about making egg rolls next week than i am about the apple crisp that, let's be honest, is still baking in my oven as i type these very words at 637pm on the 17th?

i totally planned to make the whipped cream b/c my friend joyce made her own whipped cream one time a few years ago & it was really, REALLY good -- but i don't feel like dirtying another dish, nor do i feel like figuring out this electric hand beater my mom gave me last weekend. i DID buy the cream, so i'll do it pretty soon -- but not tonight.

epilogue: SWEET.
daniel said: "not just sweet -- it's 'dude! sweet!'"

almost TOO sweet, actually, which means my grandpa would love it.

"Apple-Oatmeal Crisp with Irish Whiskey Cream" from Emeril Live, 2001.