Sunday, January 26, 2020

APPLE BROWN BETTY (UPDATED)


Mike only needs occasional help with his activities of daily living, but he does have pain now. With respect to the tribulation that all of us suffer from time to time, I won’t carry on about this. Even as we faced this surgery with trepidation, we were grateful it wasn’t something worse. But, at risk of sounding like a brat, I do think I deserve a reward. I’m looking for one. It only needs to be a day-brightener (or two?) delivered to the mailbox.

Returning to my study of vintage family recipes, yesterday I made apple brown betty using the previously posted recipe. I made crumbs of three stale hamburger buns and then I added a cup of purchased dry crumbs. For the apples, I used two Granny Smiths and one Gala. I cut back the brown sugar to one cup and left out the salt. A half cup of liquid didn’t seem like quite enough, and it needed to bake quite a bit longer in order to soften the apples.

Kathy’s Updated Apple Brown Betty Casserole
2 c soft bread crumbs
1 c dry bread crumbs
4 c chopped tart apples
1 c brown sugar
2 T melted butter
1 t cinnamon
¾ c boiling water (or apple juice)
Mix butter, sugar, cinnamon, and bread crumbs.
Grease a 2 qt. casserole dish.
Layer the crumbs and apples, beginning and ending with a crumb layer.
Dot with butter
Pour at least ½ cup boiling water over the pudding.
Cover and bake 40 minutes at 375. Uncover and bake 10-15 minutes longer until apples are softened and top layer is crisp. 

Maybe you remember Peggy Hill of King of the Hill. Peggy’s signature dish was her old family recipe for apple brown betty. Any feast, barbecue, or potluck was an excuse for her to bake her apple brown betty, which was greeted with silence by everyone else. Out of curiosity, I googled “Peggy Hill’s Apple Brown Betty,” and sure enough! – a recipe came up (here). I chose to use the one from Mother’s collection, and we thought it was delicious! KW

4 comments:

Hallie said...

I’ve never even heard of this. Funny that one of the King of the Hill writers knew about it.

M/W said...

It is really good.

Chris said...

This sounds good. And at the risk of being horribly out of the know, I've never heard of "King of the Hill."

Kathy said...

King of the Hill is a cartoon with adult themes -- out of production since 2007 or so and rerun now and then on the Comedy Channel or Toons. It's not everyone's cup of tea but of all of the cartoons of that ilk, it's relatively tame. Hank Hill is "King of the Hill," and his wife is Peggy. He is employed for a company that sells propane and propane accessories, and Peggy is a substitute teacher.