Apple Brown Butter Betty

When I want to make a quick and simple dessert an apple crisp always comes to mind. Peel and slice up a few apples, toss with lemon, cinnamon, brown sugar, a smidge of flour and a sprinkle of salt. For the top - a few oats, almond flour, a bit more flour, sugar, salt, and butter to keep it crumbly and crisp, and in the oven. Done. Maybe some ice cream on top and everyone is happy. What could be even easier with a similar result? Brown Betty. 

Brown Betty is the girl next door you never really think about, or talk to your friends about. You're not attracted to her at first sight, but you love it when you run into her and exchange hellos. Then one day, you hang out with her, spending some serious time and you can't believe you never noticed how amazing she really is. She doesn't require copious amounts of effort. She's perfect - never too much or over the top. You can bring her home to mom, but your friends think she's great too. Brown Betty is the dessert that is never really craved or swooned over, but when it's there you can't imagine life with her.

Brown Betty is way easier than pie and doesn't really require much of a recipe. To start, cube day-old brioche bread, or a mixture of country white bread and croissants into 1/2 inch cubes. You could also do this with fresh bread, just cut and cube a few hours before and set out to dry the bread a bit. Then, in a bowl, peel and slice tart apples. They should be sliced relatively thin - if they are too thick they won't soften enough by the time the bread on top browns. Toss apple slices with a squeeze of lemon, a generous amount of cinnamon, a bit of clove and nutmeg, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and a splash of brandy or calvados. Toss together and set aside. In a pot melt and brown butter. When the butter starts to brown and get nutty, pour most of the butter over the cubed bread and toss together. Reserve a bit of brown butter for sprinkling on top. In a buttered baking dish, layer the now brown buttered bread and/or croissant cubes with apples, starting and ending with the bread cubes. Sprinkle the remaining butter over top. You could sprinkle a bit of turbinado sugar on top as well, but it's not necessary. Bake in a 350F oven, for about 30 minutes. The apples should be soft, but not mushy, and the bread cubes on top should be a golden brown.

As a general guide I used a mixture of 6 cups of cubed white bread and croissants. I also used 6 apples, juice of 1 lemon, 1/4 cup brown sugar (add more if you like your desserts on the sweeter side), 1 Tablespoon of cinnamon, pinch each of nutmeg, clove and salt (use whatever spices you like with apples), 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 2 Tablespoons of calvados (if you don't want to use alcohol fresh apple juice is fine, but it does need a bit of liquid), and 4 ounces of butter. This fit perfectly in an medium-depth 8x8 inch baking dish.

Serve warm, with or without fresh heavy cream or vanilla ice cream. The bottom layer of bread soaks up all the cinnamony apple juice that caramelizes a bit while the top is crisp and buttery. It's understated, but perfect on a cool fall day.

Comments

[Sophie]

I never tasted this dessert before but I am going to make this!

Looks so inviting too!

[my little expat kitchen]

It looks so easy to make this and tasty too. Apple season is here huh? Where have I been?
Magda

[lisaiscooking]

I love how easily this comes together, and adding croissants sounds fantastic!

[cheffresco]

This looks delicious! The apple is nice and crisp!

[Tangled Noodle]

I am an apple crisp fan but Brown Betty looks irresistible! I'd love to try this with different kinds of breads, just for a good excuse to have a delicous baked apple treat as often as possible. 8-)

[OysterCulture]

Love your description of a brown betty, and its so true. She's like the last gal standing at the dance, who should have been picked first. Love the idea of croissants. We've been getting just a load of apples since we got back from Italy, bout time I do something different than slather peanut butter on them.

[Sam]

I've never tried this before but it sounds really good, it's a great way to use up old bread too, I hate throwing it away!

[Daily Spud]

Apple crumble aka apple crisp is also my go to apple dessert, but I think I should get acquainted with this Brown Betty - she sounds like my type of gal!

[Maria]

I love warm apple desserts. The smell of them baking is so comforting to me!! This sounds great and is perfect for fall.