I have a surplus of apples and want to make several apple crisps - baked sweetened apples with a crumb topping made with butter, sugar, flour, and oatmeal. Something along these lines:
formatting link
with a little bit of tapioca added so that the juice exuded bythe apples thickens. The question I have concerns freezing them - I want to freeze several of the crisps for later enjoyment. Is there any problem with baking them, freezing them after they've cooled, then using a microwave to thaw them later? Should I freeze them partially baked or unbaked and bake them when I'm ready to unfreeze them?
Have you ever frozen a fresh apple? When thawed, it turns to mush. 'course, I've never baked one from the frozen state. I'd say bake a crisp and test-freeze one piece to see how well it thaws. jmho, Peggy
"Peggy" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:
Freezing an apple and thawing it is entirely different than freezing a prepared pie to be baked from the frozen state. When I can get good Fall apples, I assemble 10-12 apple pies (exactly the same as if I were going to bake them immediately) and freeze, then wrap tightly in several layers of plastic wrap. They go directly from the freezer to the oven and bake at 375°F for around 90 minutes or until done. They taste like freshly-made, freshly-baked pies.
I've never tried this with a crisp, since I don't make those, but I imagine the results would be similar.
I don't know if the OP was posting from the UK or the US, but in the US there are all kinds of commercially frozen fruit pies that are oven-ready. They're prepared the same way I prepare mine, but mine are better.
Today I'm baking a blackberry pie that was prepared the same way earlier in the summer.
You're right. I forgot about prepared pies you can purchase (or make, as in your case) already frozen and just pop in the oven. And I just realized that a crisp is nothing more than a crustless French Apple Pie. ~Peggy
I do not know about apple crisps, but I have frozen baked peach crisps. They freeze well and after thawing them, I put them into a hot oven for several minutes, to get the crispness back into the streusel topping. They taste just as if they were freshly baked.
"Peggy" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:
Peggy, the reason I do them unbaked is that reheating or rebaking a pie that was first baked and then frozen just doesn't taste as fresh. Guess I'm going to have to try a crisp!
If you freeze them baked, then microwave them they may have decent flavor, but the crisp portion will be soggy goo. It's better to prepare them, just as if you were going to bake them, then freeze. When you're ready to enjoy, just take it directly from freezer to oven (don't thaw first) and increase your baking time accordingly. Check on it when it's been about time and 1/2 as usual, and go from there. After the first time you'll know just how long to bake it. Here's my two favorite crisp recipes for your consideration ;-)
For A Crowd Apple Crisp This is a good size recipe, baked in a 9x13x2" pan. Ingredients
10 cups thinly sliced apples
1/4 to 1 cup white sugar (Depends greatly on variety of apple and desired level of sweetness)
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/2 cup water spiked with 2 tsp lemon juice Topping:
2 cup quick-cooking oats
2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 tsp good cinnamon (I like Penzey's Vietnamese Cinnamon for this)
1 cup butter, melted
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degree C).
Place the sliced apples in a 9x13 inch pan. Combine sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and ground cinnamon and nutmeg together, and sprinkle over apples.Toss lightly. Pour lemon water evenly over the apples.
Combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and melted butter together. Should be crumbly, but not too dry or too wet. Crumble evenly over the apple mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 45 minutes. It's done when the topping is a deep golden color and the apples are fork tender.
Serve with cinnamon ice cream, vanilla ice cream, or just whipped cream. NOTE: A very nice addition to this is to add some slivered or chopped almonds, about 1/2 cup, to the crisp topping before putting atop the apples. You can also add 1/2 tsp almond extract to filling.
Julian Mountain Berry Apple Pie I adapt this recipe to make a crisp at times, though I do like it with the pastry crust as well. Make it in a deep dish pie pan.
2 1/2 pounds apples, peeled, cored, sliced (Macintosh or Idared are really good in this recipe)
2 cups berries: blackberries, raspberries, boysenberries and strawberries in any combo
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon butter Topping:
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 c toasted oats
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup chopped almonds (may use pecans)
3/4 cup cold butter
Directions:
Heat oven to 375 degrees F
Toss together the apples, 2 tbsp flour, cinnamon, sugar, and nutmeg. Carefully add in berries.
Butter your deep sided pie dish and add the filling to it.
Cut cold butter into remaining topping ingredients until crumbly, and spread evenly over fruit mixture.
Bake for 30 minutes, then reduce oven temp to 350 to prevent overbrowning and continue baking 30-45 more minutes. It's done when apples are fork tender and topping is deep golden brown. NOTE: If desired you can make a single recipe of pastry crust and line the pan with it prior to adding fruit.
InspirePoint website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.