Recipe: Budget Brown Betty (using soft bread crumbs)

BUDGET BROWN BETTY

"The thing that makes an apple betty a "betty," as opposed to a crisp, is the bread crumbs. This makes it a good choice when we're trying to use up the last of a loaf of bread or when we need a quick dessert from ingredients we typically have on hand. Apple Betty dates to Colonial days, and we suspect those Revolutionary-era cooks liked the dessert for the same reasons -- plus the fact it's delicious and comforting. What more could you ask for?"

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, melted (plus more for preparing the pan)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 pounds (about 4 medium) apples (any variety except Red Delicious)
1/3 cup white granulated sugar
3 cups soft white bread crumbs
1/3 cup light or dark brown sugar, firmly packed
2 teaspoons apple pie spice (or ground cinnamon)
Vanilla ice cream (for serving)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter a 13-by-9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish and set aside.

Pour the lemon juice into a medium mixing bowl. Peel and core the apples. Cut them into bite-size chunks, adding them to the bowl as you cut and tossing them in the lemon juice. Add the white granulated sugar and stir well. Set aside.

Mix the bread crumbs, melted butter, brown sugar and apple pie spice together in a medium mixing bowl. Stir well.

Spoon half the apples into the baking dish. Top with half the crumbs. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.

Bake, uncovered, until the apples are tender and the top is crisp and browned, 45 to 55 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes.

Serve in small dessert bowls, topped with vanilla ice cream.

Makes 10 servings
Source: Cheap. Fast. Good! by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross