Apple Brown Betty
When it comes to using up stale bread, I tend to prefer savory over sweet recipes. Recipes like this Sausage, Mushroom and Spinach Strata or last week’s Bacon and Cheese Croissant Casserole. They are great because they turn old bread into a dish that can be eaten for pretty much any meal. As for sweet recipes, I often only think of bread pudding. And I have made my share of bread puddings to the point that I am just over them. So when I discovered I could turn my old bread into an Apple Brown Betty, I was happy to try something new.
Apple Brown Betty is not the most popular dessert but it’s such an easy and convenient use of simple ingredients. Unlike an apple pie or Apple Crumble where you have to make a crust or topping, or mix the apples with other ingredients and sometimes even precook them, you don’t have to do much. All you are essentially doing in this recipe is tossing ingredients on top of each other then baking them. The result is a cobbler like dessert that is light and crispy on top, gooey in the center and layered with warm sweet spiced apples. I adapted this recipe from I Heart Eating‘s Apple Brown Betty. The main difference is there’s less sugar in my version.
Since it is officially Fall 🙄, this is a good recipe to start getting you into the Fall mood. I know this season is exciting for a lot of people. For me it just means the days are getting colder and shorter while my gas and electricity bills will be getting higher and higher. But recipes like this, and all the other recipes that I usually only enjoy around this time of the year, make the colder months a little less dreadful. So whether you are a Fall person or not, I hope you try this super easy recipe.
Apple Brown Betty
Ingredients
- 4 granny smith apples
- 6 to 8 oz bread about 4 slices
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 4 tbsp butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Peel, core and slice apples thinly then cut or tear apart bread into bite size pieces.
- Coat an 8 or 9 inch square pan with 1 tablespoon of butter. Slice the remaining butter and set aside.
- Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar in the pan. Top the sugar with half of the sliced apples. Then top the apples half of the bread. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg over the bread. Repeat this step starting with 3 tablespoons of the brown sugar, the rest of the apples, the bread and spices.
- Top it off with the sliced up butter followed by the remaining 3 tablespoons of brown sugar. Cover loosely with foil and bake for about 30 minutes. After 25 to 30 minutes, remove the foil and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes.
- Let it cool for a few minutes then serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
