Book: I finished the first book in the trilogy “Matched” by Allyson Condie. The cover of the book is done very, very well. Would I recommend this book? If you liked The Giver by Lois Lowry then yes. If you like “Brave New World” you will like this book.
Similarities with the two books. Jonah is now Cassia. She is 17 instead of 12 (I think Jonah was 12? It’s been a while). Elderly are killed at a certain age. The government controls what you eat. Everyone is assigned a job and a mate. Jonas and their society takes pills – Cassia and their society carry 3 pills around. There is a curfew.
Recipe:
I have been experimenting with apples and fast apple crisps that taste great and don’t require a lot of pots and pans. This recipe I found by King Arthur Flour is my new favorite. Crunchy oat topping and perfectly balanced apples to topping ratio. Definitely my new go-to recipe. I would also mention that I keep the skin on the apples. I like the texture and flavor better, but I know most people are used to having the apples peeled.
The butter in the topping can be partially substituted for Greek Yogurt in this recipe. Usually that will work up to half the amount in desserts that require a buttery taste. This will cut down on the calories and saturated fat quite a bit.
As stated in the notes, I like Gala apples in this crisp. The Gala apples are sweet and stay pretty firm throughout the baking process. Fuji, Cortland, Granny Smith and HoneyCrisp will work as well. The Granny Smiths are quite tart, so you will want to add more brown sugar with them. I would NOT recommend using Golden Delicious or Red Delicious applies – those apples are awesome for applesauce and apple butter, but not really for making a crisp. Golden Delicious turns to mush when heated which is why I use it all the time for applesauce and apple butter, but not apple crisp.
- 3 pounds apples, 9 cups; peeled, cored and sliced (I leave my peels on)
- ¼ cup apple juice or water
- ¼-3/4 cup brown sugar (more for tart apples, less for sweeter apples)
- 2 Tb. boiled cider (optional)
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp. ground ginger
- 3 Tb. flour
- ¼ tsp. salt
- Topping:
- ¾ cup all purpose flour or white whole wheat flour
- ½ cup quick oats or old fashioned oats
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ⅔ cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- ¾ tsp. baking powder
- ½ cup (8Tb) cold butter, cut into chunks (or 4Tb butter and 4Tb. Greek yogurt)
- ½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.
- In a great big bowl, toss the apples with the water, brown sugar, boiled cider (optional), spices, flour and salt. Dump them into the prepared baking dish. Level them out in the pan.
- In a medium size bowl, mix the topping flour, oats, salt, brown sugar, cinnamon and baking powder. Cut the butter in with 2 forks or your fingers. The topping will look like large crumbs.
- Add the topping evenly over the apples.
- Place a cookie sheet under the apple crisp pan just in case it drips/overflows.
- Bake for 60 minutes. Cool for at least 20 minutes.
Recipe from King Arthur Flour
