Warm Apple Pecan Crumble

Need I say more? Find me one person who doesn’t love an apple dessert and I will personally give you… well I won’t give you anything. But seriously, just about everyone I know loves a good baked apple treat!

Growing up, I was much more of a brownie/cookie type of dessert girl but I could always appreciate a good homemade apple pie. But apple pies made the traditional way consisted of one thing that I did not care much for, and that was its crust.

Come to think of it, I never liked any sort of crust as a child, whether it was sliced bread crust, pizza crust and yes, even pie crust! So when I first had an apple pie with a crumble topping instead of a crust, I was immediately sold!

Now there is just one thing I wanted to address about this recipe. And it’s all about baking dishes. When I was thinking about this recipe, I really wanted it to be more of a deconstructed apple pie concept. Something a little messier and falling apart. Then I came across these mini graham cracker crust molds and I couldn’t leave them behind! I was so excited to use them, but afterward I felt like they made the dish more of a pie than a crumble although they were still pretty delicious.

You’ll notice in the pictures that 6 of the crumbles have a foil-lined crust and two of them are in ramekins of a similar size. I prefer the ramekins since it allowed the apple filling to be more dominant. The crust overpowered the filling way more than I had expected. Now, if you don’t have that many ramekin bowls, like didn't, try using muffin tins to bake them in. Then when you’re ready to eat one, just scoop out and into a bowl and go!

Overall I think the flavors of this dessert came out really well but I plan on making this one again soon (once I get more ramekins). Or maybe I’ll take the messy but decadent-looking route and ditch the ramekins all together!

Let me know if you’ve tried this recipe and what baking dished you decide to use. Also, let me know if you had any other baking dish suggestions. I’d love to try them!

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Warm Apple Pecan Crumble

by Jasmine Nichole Sanders

Crunchy, delicous spin on the classic American dessert!

Ingredients

Crumble
• 1 cup flour
• 6 tbsp. butter, softened
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• pinch of salt
Apple Filling
• 1 1/2 lbs. apples, peeled, cored and diced
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 tbsp. flour
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Make crumble. Put flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl and mix well. Add in butter, 1 tablespoon at a time and rub into the flour until it resembles a crumbly texture. Stir in pecans.

Prepare the filing. In a large bowl mix together all filing ingredients until well combined.

Spoon 1/4 - 1/3 cup of filling into 8 -10 ramekins. Top filling with about 1/4 cup of crumble in each ramekin. Place ramekins on a baking sheet and bake for 35-40 minutes.

Serve warm a la mode.

Details

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 40 mins Total time: 1 hour Yield: 8-10 servings

Nana's Carrot Cake

This recipe one that is very close to my heart. I’ve mentioned before how much of an influence my Nana has been on my cooking journey. She’s the rock of our family and has always, and still does, throw down in the kitchen for every one who comes to visit.

I come from a very large Panamanian family. My grandfather is the oldest of seven siblings and despite being over a decade older than his closest sibling in age, they’ve all been very close. Every year, for nearly every holiday we’ve celebrated together, the seven siblings with their spouses, children and children’s children. We’d have typical potlock-style parties where everyone would cook one or two meals and bring it to Tia Marcia’s place because she was the only one who had a house big enough for all of us.

Because there were so many of us there was always a LOT of food. Good food, but a lot of it. The best part was that everyone got to go home with a week’s worth of leftovers! All of the Tia’s had their signature dish, Tia Sandra brought the baked Ziti, Tia Felicia had roast beef, Tia Marcia made rice and peas and greens. My Nana’s signature dish was this carrot cake. She brought it to a party one year and every one loved it! They would ask again and again for her to make carrot cake and it often ended up being the only desert at the parties, this delicious, simple carrot cake.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve eaten this cake. Although I’m not much of a baker, it’s one of the first recipes that I’ve ever learned and probably the one I’ve made the most. I’m sure there are thousands of carrot cake recipes out there but I refuse to try any other!

I’ve added the cream cheese frosting to this recipe because apparently it’s a “thing”. Growing up, I never had it with the frosting; it just didn’t need it. I actually prefer the cake without it. Sometimes we’d just dust a little bit of powdered sugar on top to make it look pretty. It would last about 5 seconds then dissolve into the cake because it’s so freaking moist! But if cream cheese frosting is a must for your carrot cake needs then go right ahead. I won’t stop you!

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Nana's Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

by Jasmine Nichole Sanders

A classic recipe favorite

Ingredients

Cake
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp all spice
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups grated carrots
• 1/2 cup orange juice
  Frosting
• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp water

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place a sieve in a large mixing bowl. Add in all dry ingredients to the bowl and sift through the sieve. Set aside.

Beat eggs, sugars, oil and vanilla in a separate bowl until well combined. Gradually add in dry ingredients to wet mixture and beat well. Stir in orange juice then fold in grated carrots.

Pour cake mix into a greased bunt pan or two 10-inch pans and bake for 45 mins. Stick a knife near the center the cake to make sure its dry inside. If not, cook an additional three minutes at a time until dry.

While the cake is baking, prepare frosting by beating soften butter and cream cheese in a bowl until creamy. Stir in vanilla, water and powdered sugar

Once cake is cooled, about 15 minutes, place a plate on top of the bunt pan and flip over. Drizzle cream cheese icing on top.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 45 mins Total time: 1 hourYield: 8-10
Skill Level: Easy