Polenta in a Fruit Crisp? It CAN Be Done!

Each year I spend the first night of Sukkot with the same family friends and it has become a custom for me to bring along a homemade Applesauce Cake with Caramel Sauce. Suffice it to say, I think the cake is good (read the blog entry for the full rundown), but also wanted to shake things up a bit by bringing an apple based alternative dessert. I didn't want to do another cake, and with Thanksgiving approaching, felt I should avoid the pie route too. An apple crisp seemed to be a good idea, as crisps are typically well received and pretty hard to mess up - fruit, sugar, some spices, a sweet topping ... what can go wrong?


I set out to find a new recipe with a unique twist to kick it up a notch. After some intense research (code for - "I spent a few minutes searching my favorite recipe sites...) my eyes narrowed in on an Apple-Cranberry Crisp with a Polenta Streusel Topping. The recipe came from SmittenKitchen, a fantastic blog I discovered through my friend Abby, and is originally from culinary master Michael Chiarello.  I adapted a bit to keep it parve (non-dairy).

The polenta topping is certainly what sold me on the recipe. A traditional topping for fruit crisps seems to be a combination of brown sugar, flour, butter and some assortment of crunchy items - oats, nuts, etc. Polenta comes from cornmeal, and therefore this topping was more like a cornbread than a traditional crisp topping. Since most sukkot include some dangling ears of corn, this topping seemed apropos for the holiday. My topping was pretty thick and covered the full amount of fruit (I typically think of a streusel topping as having peaks of crunch).

I'm sure you can mix and match this recipe, trying out different fillings (peach berry) with the polenta topping or this apple-cranberry filling with a more traditional toppings. Play around - and enjoy!

APPLE-CRANBERRY CRISP with POLENTA STREUSEL TOPPING

Adapted from Michael Chiarello via Bon Appetit, December 2007

Serves: 10 - 12

Topping
1 tsp. aniseed
1 ½ cups pastry flour
3/4 cup polenta (coarse cornmeal)
½ cup sugar
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter or margarine, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 large egg, beaten to blend

Filling
2 cups fresh cranberries
1/3 cup white sugar
2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 tsp. finely grated lemon peel
1 ½ tsp. finely grated orange peel
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 lbs. Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Vanilla gelato, ice cream or soy-cream

Instructions

1. Toast aniseed in small skillet over medium heat until slightly darker in color,about 3 minutes. Place seeds in processor. Add next 5 ingredients; blend 5 seconds. Add butter; blend, using on/off turns, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Transfer mixture to large bowl. Drizzle egg over and stir until ingredients are evenly moistened.
2. Preheat oven to 375° F. Combine first 8 ingredients in large bowl; stir to blend. Add apples and lemon juice; toss to blend. Transfer filling to 11×7x2- inch glass baking dish (or other shallow 2-quart baking dish).
   
3. Crumble topping finely over filling. Bake dessert until apples are tender, juices bubble thickly, and topping is crisp and golden, about 1 hour. Cool 15 minutes. Serve crisp warm with gelato.

SHE'ELAH: What's your favorite combination of fruit for a crisp?

The Ridiculous Applesauce Cake

Each year my family spends the first night of Sukkot in the the home of my childhood rabbi. They always build a beautiful sukkah, prepare a nice meal and invite fun company - it is a great opportunity to reconnect with family friends. The evening is pretty routine, and I enjoy the traditional progression of the evening from shmoozing in their living room to the chanting of brachot and tasty meal together. More so, it's fun to relive stories from childhood and to dust off (literally) the same photographed song sheets we use each year to sing the two distinctly Sukkot-themed songs in their repertoire. ...but I digress.

A number of years ago I was an eager, emerging baker and offered to bring something for dessert. After pouring through the recipe books I settled on a cake that seemed appropriate for the holiday: Applesauce Cake with Caramel Sauce. The recipe seemed simple enough, and I was attracted to the applesauce twist, some bold spices, and the bonus of a yummy sauce. In my opinion the cake was good enough - the spices give it a distinct flavor, the consistency is moist (in the way you want a cake to be moist), and the sauce certainly adds a sinful touch. Good, but certainly not anything particularly amazing. My own family seemed to concur.

Well, my rabbi and his family went bonkers. The men in the family enjoyed their first slice ... and their second. There was about 1/2 a cake left after everyone had finished eating, and yet, when the cake plate was returned to me from the kitchen at the end of the evening, it was completely cleared and cleansed. Not a single crumb left. "Where did the rest of the cake go?" I wondered. The answer - directly into their refrigerator to be consumed through the rest of the holiday.

When invited back the next year I again offered to bring a dessert. "That would be so nice - we really enjoyed the cake from last year" was the response to my offer. I picked-up on the not too subtle hint. When I arrived at their home, their eldest son answered the door and asked, "Did you bring it?!?" he asked with an intense look in his eye as he stared me down while blocking the doorway. I was thrown into a bit of an inner-panic! What was it that he was expecting me to bring with such great anticipation? I held up the only item I could offer - the cake. "Thank goodness!" he exclaimed and moved aside so that I could enter. The evening proceeded as it always does - shmoozing, eating, singing, benching ... and then a completely cleared and cleansed cake plate returned to my hands.

Thus began the tradition of the Applesauce Cake with Caramel Sauce on the first night of Sukkot. Again, I think the cake is good, but clearly there are others who think it is something really special! Each year I am greeted at the door with the same glaring look from some of the family - seeming more like addicts craving their annual hit than like gracious hosts - followed by a string of anticipatory comments as we lead up to dessert, during which time the harassment ceases only because their mouths are full with this ridiculous Applesauce Cake.

APPLESAUCE CAKE w/CARAMEL SAUCE

Serves: 12

Cake Batter Ingredients
½ cup butter or margarine, softened

½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
3 cups flour, sifted
1 ½ tsp. nutmeg
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 Tbsp. baking soda
2 ½ cups applesauce
2 Tbsp. corn syrup
1 cup raisins or chopped dried apples
1 cup chopped walnuts

Caramel Sauce Ingredients
½ cup butter or margarine
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 Tbsp. light cream or soy milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
¼ to ½ cup powdered sugar, sifted

Instructions

1. Cream together butter, sugar and olive oil. Add eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each egg.
2. Sift together flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and baking soda. Set aside.
3. Combine applesauce and corn syrup in a small bowl. Add to creamed mixture alternately with sifted ingredients. Fold in raisins/apples and nuts.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 1 ½ to 2 hours until cake tests done when tester is inserted (from multiple angles). Cool cake in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely. Drizzle caramel sauce on top see below).
5. Prepare caramel sauce: In a medium saucepan combine butter, brown sugar and light cream. Heat until melted. Add vanilla and remove from heat. Using a hand mixer, beat in powdered sugar and mix thoroughly. Pour sauce over cooled cake and sprinkle with extra chopped nuts to decorate.

Adapted from California Sizzles

SHE'ELAH: What is the most unique sukkah decoration you have seen?