Thanksgiving Series #4: Dessert

Okay, okay... I will admit that dessert is my favorite part of a meal. I am known for my love of sweets and I really enjoy being able to take small portions of more than one sweet! So Thanksgiving is the perfect time to have several desserts! I try to get a few different kinds of dessert in there to appeal to as many people as possible. I have done cakes, cookies, pies- you get the point.

On this "Thanksgiving 1" we had just two sweets, an apple crisp and a cheesecake. The apple crisp is one of my all time favorites, not too sweet and a little sour. The cheesecake is another one of Grandma's specialties on The Hubster's side of the family and I am a sucker for traditions!

 

In this installment of the Thanksgiving Series I will give you the apple crisp recipe but not one for the cheesecake. No one but my mother-in-law and my husband know how to make it. In fact, the only thing written down for the cheesecake in our house are the ingredients- Mike won't even let me know the way to make it! This cheesecake was the first thing he learned to make from a recipe. It was his "get out of jail" card, the one thing I could not make. Ever. Everyone needs one of those recipes, right? For me it is my chocolate cupcake recipe!

Ingredients

Filling:

• 6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, chopped (about 3 1/2 pounds)
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1/4 cup maple syrup

Topping:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) chilled butter, cut into pieces
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Bourbon Cream:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon bourbon

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For the Filling:

Butter a 9 by 13-inch casserole dish. In a large bowl mix all the filling ingredients together and toss to coat all the apples. Pour in the prepared baking dish

For topping:

In a food processor combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in large bowl. Pulse to blend. Pulse in the butter until mixture forms pea size lumps. Add the pecans and pulse 1 or 2 more times. Sprinkle over filling. Bake crisp for 45 to 50 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

For Bourbon cream:

In a medium sized bowl, beat the cream until it begins to thicken. While beating, add the sugar and bourbon and beat until soft peaks form. Dollop over servings of apple crisp (vanilla ice cream is also tasty with this dish!)

You can go directly to the recipe at food network here 

I did not think I would like the bourbon cream but it really did add a nice touch to the apple crisp. The men in the house also sipped on a small serving of the bourbon while I was preparing the desserts for serving.

While half of the cheesecake was left, barely two serving were leftover of the crisp- and my sister and I gobbled that up the very next day!