Ooey Gooey Goodness

Oh Ina Garten, you've done it again. You've won me over with your delectable desserts. I may find you unbearable to watch but I can't deny that you know what you're doing in the kitchen.

 I thought this recipe was a nice variation of your typical apple crisp, with the addition of pears. I intended to add golden raisins but completely forgot about it until I had put the topping on. I was pretty bummed about that, I really think it would have given it a lot more flavor, but it was very good without them also.

Apple and Pear Crisp


You will need:

• 2 lbs ripe Bosc pears (4) (mine were pretty firm but it made them easy to peel and keep their form during baking)
• 2 lbs firm Macoun apples (6)
• 1 tsp grated orange zest
• 1 tsp grated lemon zest
• 2 tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice
• 2 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

For the topping:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup old fashion oatmeal (not instant)
• 1/2 lb (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Peel, core and cut the pears and apples into large chunks. Place the fruit in a large bowl and add zest, juices, sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Combine until fruit is evenly covered. Pour into a 4 qt. baking dish.

For the topping, combine flour, sugars, salt, oatmeal and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on low speed for one minute, or until mixture is in large crumbles. Spread evenly over fruit, covering it completely.

Place the baking dish on a sheet pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until the top in brown and the fruit is bubbly. Serve warm with fresh whipped cream or ice cream.

I made it a day ahead of time and then we reheated it for about 30 minutes at 200 degrees. I think that may have caused it to get a bit liquidy but it was worth it to have warm crisp with ice cream :).

Source: Ina Garten- The Barefoot Contessa

"This is no ordinary apple, it's a magic wishing apple...

One bite and all your dreams will come true."
Snow White should have known better, that old lady was creeeepy.

For some reason I was afraid of baked apples. I don't know why? Maybe it was just because I hadn't made them before and I chose to make them for the first time when people were coming over. I really should stick with making things I've made at least once before when other people have to eat it too:). Maybe one day I'll learn my lesson. Needless to say they came out really well! I didn't fall in love with any recipe I saw on-line so I kind of made it up as I went.

Baked Apples


You will need:

• 4-6 medium sized Gala apples
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 cup golden raisins

You can also add walnuts or pecans. When I make these again I will probably add some oats, make it sort of apple crispy-ish:).

Wash your apples and peel the top inch or so from the stem. Core the apples, not going all the way through to the bottom. I don't have an apple corer so I used a sharp knife, cutting into the top diagonally. Then I used the blunt end of a spoon and surprisingly the core came out pretty easily, in one chunk. Make sure all the seeds are removed.

 These are the apples only cored half way.

Cut the very bottom off of your apple to give it a flat surface to sit on. Remember to make sure you're not cutting too much off so that you make a hole in the bottom, allowing the filling to leak out!

Mix together your brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, raisins and any other fillings you're using. Fill each apple with approximately 2 tbsp of filling. Pour 1/2-1 cup of apple cider into the bottom of your 3-4 quart baking dish and place your apples in. Put a pad of unsalted butter on each apple.

Cover with foil and poke a few small hold in the foil with your knife. Bake for 45min to an hour at 350 degrees.

Test your apples by sticking them with a fork, when they are tender and the fork goes in easily, they're finished.

You could pair these with so many things. We had them with Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Ice cream. But it would be good with a caramel ice cream, caramel drizzle, whipped cream- the list goes on (or top them off with a little rum, or bourbon or some Navan from the apple pie martini drink last week:))! One recipe I saw had you drizzle maple syrup over them before you baked them, which sounds amazing to me, but I know some don't like maple as much as others:).

Any way you make them, and anyway you serve them, I hope you enjoy!

(p.s. Props to Stephanie for getting her baked apple into my blog!)