Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Pineapple crisp
Jake’s fourteen today!
For his fourteenth birthday, I made him his favorite food, focaccia, as well as candied yams and hickory-smoked pork baby back ribs. For dessert, he wanted one of my rhubarb crisps, but there was no rhubarb to be found. Instead, I made a pineapple crisp.
You can find the basic recipe here at allrecipes.com. Since I’ve made a number of changes, though, I’m going to repeat the recipe below.
* about 3 cups chopped fresh pineapple, cut into 1/2-inch (1 cm) chunks
* 1 apple, cut into similar-sized chunks
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 cup plus two tablespoons brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 egg
* 1/2 cup butter, melted
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Fearing a soupy crisp (which is what you’ll see at the allrecipes.com site), I stirred the pineapple with two tablespoons of brown sugar, then let the pineapple drain in a pasta strainer for about five minutes. Meanwhile, I preheated the oven to 275 F. I spread the pineapple onto a nonstick cookie sheet and let it dehydrate and caramelize a little at 275 F for about 1 1/4 hours.
I spread these chunks on the bottom of an 8-inch square pyrex dish. There was surprisingly little pineapple at this point, so if you’re a pineapple purist, you can probably skip the apple and simply start out with more pineapple, perhaps five cups. But this recipe came out so well, I’m going to push on and tell you how I did it.
Raise the oven temperature to 350 F.
I peeled and diced an apple and sprinkled the chunks over the pineapple. I figured this would add a little moisture, now that I had done such a great job sucking all the water out of my pineapple.
Combine all dry ingredients except for the cinnamon, then stir the egg and half the butter into the dry ingredients. I used a pastry cutter to create a slightly chunky mixture. Spread this mixture over the fruit, then drizzle the remaining butter over everything. Sprinkle cinnamon evenly over the crisp.
Bake at 350 F for 45 min, cool on a rack, and serve with vanilla ice cream.
Amazing stuff. Yes, it’s a bit of a hassle to prep your pineapple like this, but if you like that caramelized pineapple flavor, there’s no other alternative.
Jake never wants much for his birthday. For his fourteenth, he asked for a bowler hat and a book, Predictably Irrational. I bought him Osmos, which I blogged the other day, and I think I might buy him Machinarium, too, since the graphics are amazing.
Oh, how I love indie games . . .
D.
how is he fourteen? jeesh. pineapple crisp sounds goood, my boyf would probly like it.
hope jake enjoyed his birthday as much as i enjoyed mine!
how is he fourteen?
Clean living, my dear. Clean living.