Apple Spiced Coffee Cake

Before we left for Australia there was a bit more pantry cleaning we needed to do, trying to minimize any produce going to waste. Diane had roasted up the teriyaki glazed brussels sprouts for us to munch on, but there were apples, persimmons, and tons of garden fresh limes which most likely weren’t going to survive the two weeks we’d be gone.

For the persimmons and limes we called in Diane’s parents, as they are always willing to take any of those we have to offer. All of our travels landed smack dab in the middle of when our giant fuyu persimmons ripened this year, and no way were we going to let the squirrels eat them all. Diane’s dad came over and we picked every nearly ripe persimmon which hadn’t already been damaged or snacked on by the resident birds and squirrels. You should have seen his face light up.

fragrant fresh apples make this cake wonderful

And no Vietnamese turns down good limes. Diane’s mom loves our limes. I mean LOVES our limes. As she says,”Da stoe bought ones not da same. Your limes so good.” So our limes found a good home. I can guarantee some will find their way into the best dipping fish sauce a soul can make. Her fish sauce is the best of the best. Ask any of the girls that either do or have worked in her nail salon over the past 20 years.

Now to the apples. We only had a few left from recent shopping forays, but it would suck to let the go to waste. Last month we posted a pumpkin spiced coffeecake with we’ve had to make a couple times since because it was so good. So why not try a riff off of that recipe?

So I axed the pumpkin puree, bumped up the sour cream, tweaked the spices a bit, and added in grated apples. I thought about sautéing slices of apples and layering them in, but this way was quicker and easier, and with so much to do in the four days we were home in-between the NY/Seattle trip and the Australia trip, quick and easy seemed best.

It came out fantastic. I had previously thought the pumpkin spiced coffeecake was on of best I’ve had, however now I can’t decide. This apple one is pretty damn tasty. No need to compete, there is plenty of love for both.

Hope you enjoy!

Todd

If you want to follow along on our Australian adventure, follow us on Twitter and Instagram: Todd’s Instagram and Diane’s Instagram.

Yield: one 9-inch Cake

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

The cake flour will help make this coffeecake a little lighter, but if you only have regular all-purpose flour, use a bit less, just over 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour for the batter. For the topping it doesn't matter which flour you use. Use whichever your favorite nuts are for the topping. Some of our favorites are pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, and almonds).

1/3 cup (40g) Flour1/2 cup (110g) Brown Sugar1 teaspoon ground CinnamonPinch of kosher or sea Salt6 tablespoons (85g) cold unsalted Butter, cut into small chunks1 cup (@100g) finely chopped Nuts (walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, or almonds)1 3/4 cups (200g) Cake Flour2 teaspoons Baking Powder1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda1 1/2 teaspoons ground Cinnamon1 teaspoon ground Clove1 teaspoons ground Ginger1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea Salt1/2 cup (113g or one stick) unsalted Butter1 cup (220g) Brown Sugar2 eggs1 teaspoon vanilla extract3/4 cup (180ml) Sour Cream2 cups peeled and grated tart Apples, about 3 medium applesPreheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan.Make the topping: In a bowl combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Pinch in the butter, or use a pastry cutter, until it looks like coarse crumbs. Mix in the chopped nuts, and then refrigerate topping until ready to top the coffeecake.Make the batter: In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, clove, ginger, and salt for at least 20 seconds. Set aside.With a mixer beat the butter and brown sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the vanilla extract and sour cream. Mix in the grated apples until combined.Stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Sprinkle the topping over the batter and then bake. Bake for about 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake. Allow to cool, then remove from pan. Cut and serve.

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Baked Kuri Kabocha Squash and Apple Maple Pudding (and it's vegan too)

(The 10 year anniversary of JustHungry is at the end of this month. To commemorate this event I’m highlighting some of my favorite posts from the archives. This very healthy squash pudding or crustless pie would make a very good side dish for Thanksgiving dinner. It’s vegan, so anyone can enjoy it without worry! It is not that sweet - probably less sweet than many traditional side dishes. I hope you give it a try! Originally on published November 19, 2007, and tweaked a bit since. If you want this to be gluten-free, choose an appropriate type of miso. The miso adds a small but critical bit of umami and richness.)

You know how certain diehard carnivores react to words like ‘vegan’ ‘no dairy’ and, gasp, ‘tofu in a sweet dish’. There’s no reason to tell them that all of these phrases are applicable to this smooth, creamy baked squash pudding, until they’ve actually eaten and enjoyed. It even is devoid of white sugar, though it is sweetened with maple syrup. The simple combination of creamy squash pudding, flavored and sweetened with real maple syrup with the pure sweetness of the squash shining through, and sweet-sourness of the apples works perfectly together. (The tofu merely adds the creamy texture; you don’t taste it at all.) It’s rich, but rests very lightly on your stomach - not a bad thing after a heavy main course.

This recipe is adapted quite heavily from one in a Japanese cookbook, Saisai Sweets (Vegetable Sweets), by the wonderful Yumiko Kano, who I have mentioned previously. The original recipe called for soy milk, but I’ve used silken tofu instead for a richer, thicker consistency. I’ve omitted other things like rum-soaked raisins, and upped the maple syrup for more sweetness.

This will make a pudding or a crustless pie that is about 10 inches / 28cm or so in diameter, enough for 6 to 8 servings (though I’ve seen one disappear in one person recently).

I’ve given weight measurements rather than cup measurements, because the proportion of squash to tofu is what’s the most important thing here. Scale up or down according to your needs.

1 lb (450-500g) of cooked red kuri or Hokkaido squash, skin on, or roasted butternut squash or other sweet, dense kabocha or winter squash, flesh only (see below for how to cook the squash)1 block (300g / about 11 oz) silken tofu, well drained1/4 tsp. cinnamonA few gratings of nutmeg (about 1/4 tsp.) 2 Tbs. neutral tasting vegetable oil, such as sunflower 1/2 tsp. sea salt1 Tbs. mild, smooth white miso 8 Tbs. real maple syrup (not ‘pancake syrup’ or ‘imitation maple syrup’), plus extra for drizzling on top2 medium sweet eating apples 1 Tbs. lemon juice

Equipment needed: food processor, a pie or quiche or tart dish

If you are doing this for Thanksgiving, cook the squash ahead of time - up to 2-3 days in advance.

To cook the red kuri squash, either: cut in half and scoop out the seeds and fluffy bits in the middle. Poke several holes in the skin side with the point of your knife. Lay cut side down in a baking dish filled with about 1/2 inch / 1 cm of water. Bake at 350° F / 180° C until soft - a skewer poked through the skin side should go through easily. Drain away any left over water.

Alternate method in a pan: de-seed, de-fluffy bit and cut up the squash into about 1 inch / 2cm chunks. Put in a very heavy pan (such as a cast iron enamel one) with enough water to come up to about 1/2 of the squash chunks. Simmer, lid on, until the chunks are tender; drain away any excess water.

If you are using butternut squash, which has a much harder skin than red kuri squash, bake in the oven cut in half as above until tender.

Cool the squash after cooking to about room temperature. Store, tightly covered, in the refrigerator.

To make the pudding:

Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C (if it’s not already on of course.)

Put the cooked squash (skin and all if you are using red kuri squash - see notes), tofu, oil, salt, miso and maple syrup into the bowl of a food processor with the steel chopping blade. Process until totally smooth - you may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times. Taste at this point, and see if you want to add more maple syrup (but remember you will be drizzling more syrup on top later).

In the meantime, peel and core two medium eating apples. (I used Cox’s Orange. You want a sweet, eating apple, not a hard, sour cooking apple here. Golden Delicious is a universally available type that will work fine here.) Slice into thin wedges, and toss into some acidulated water (water with a little lemon juice in it) to stop the slices from turning brown. Drain well and pat dry with a clean kitchen towel.

Fill the tart or pie dish with the pumpkin cream. Arrange the apples in a nice pattern on the cream, pushing down each slice a bit (they will sink a little, but this is a very dense cream.) Drizzle the top with more maple syrup. Alternatively, sprinkle with maple sugar if you have it.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until the top is lightly browned.

This pudding, or crustless pie, is great warm, at room temperature or chilled.

If you don’t have real maple syrup, try a flavorful clear runny honey instead. If you can’t get a hold of kuri squash, you can substitute another squash, preferably a kabocha type, that is denser and sweeter than most other types. Try butternut squash, rouge d’Etampes or Muscat (Musque de Provence). Do not use regular pumpkin - it is far too watery and fibrous. The orange skin of the kuri squash cooks up quite soft, and the orange adds to the vibrant color of the pudding. If using other, more tough-skinned squash varieties, or you have a green-skinned variety and want to keep the pudding orange-colored just scoop out the flesh and discard the skin. If you don’t care about keeping it all vegan, use butter instead of the oil. Dot the top with more butter, for a really rich flavor.Try ripe pears instead of apples.

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Apple Cider Waffles & a Video: Colorado Gold

Can’t believe it’s been about three years since we’ve gone apple picking. Normally every October we venture up to the San Ynez Valley to make a day of gigantic-pumpkin searching and apple picking. And when we say gigantic, we really do mean the really huge pumpkins that you can use as a seating stool for two. Yup, we used to like our pumpkins big and our October apples fresh and super crunchy.

But life got the best of us and our yearly tradition of apple picking disappeared until a fee weeks ago. Not only did we pick our bags of apples again, but we also picked beautiful pears and crunched on local Colorado apples with our friend Jen Yu at Use Real Butter.

We made the most of our Colorado vacation with a fly fishing trip with family, then road tripped down to crusted butte to visit Jen, Jeremy and Kaweah. We love those three. They’re great people. And Kaweah? She’s our favorite mountain dog, ever.

Visit Jen and Jeremy for two days meant having to adjust to high altitude living. This means being winded every time we hike up their stairs. Gosh, we must be out of shape. Luckily we had a few days to acclimate before Jen took us on morning hikes where the Fall scenery was breathtaking.

Breathtaking. We mean it literally cause our jaws kept dropping at the gorgeous mountain scenery and gasping for air at the same time while we gained every 100 feet of elevation. And we loved every single minute of it!

We caught the first changing of the fall colors. It was glorious. So glorious that we tried our best to capture those gold-aspen-moments when the leaves we’re signing and swaying in the wind.

It was magical. Hopefully this video will convey a fraction of the beauty that we experienced:

Aside from the beauty that Jen and Jeremy shared with us, they fed us extremely well too. It’s hard not to love these two, their hospitality and food.

On our last morning Jen made is an incredible power breakfast: homemade apple cider pancakes with all the trimmings. It was like thanksgiving, but with pancakes and bacon. It was a special meal with those we love.

To relive that amazing breakfast we adopted her recipe (that she adapted from Rachael) and made waffles out of it. Our waffle breakfast were still great, though we still miss their company and seeing Colorado mountains out the window. Till next year!

Happy Fall,

diane and todd

Yield: Serves 4

Total Time: 30 min

Adapted from Jen at UseRealButter.com's Apple Cider Pancakes she made for us while we were visiting. You can always skip the step of separating the eggs and whisking the whites to a soft peak if you are pressed for time. Just beat the whole eggs into the buttermilk milk mixture, however if you have time, the whisked whites give the waffles a nice texture. If you want to go over the top, you can reduce down a larger amount of cider and use 3/4 cup of apple cider reduction in this recipe for an extra apple punch.

2 cups flour2 tablespoons sugar1 teaspoon ground cinnamon1 teaspoon baking powder1/2 teaspoon baking soda1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt2 eggs, separated1 cup buttermilk *see note 11/4 cup unsalted butter, melted3/4 cup apple ciderIn a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt for at least 20 seconds. Set aside.In another bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. Set aside.In another bowl, beat together the egg yolks, buttermilk, melted butter, and apple cider until well combined. Stir in the flour mixture. Fold in the whisked egg whites.Heat the waffle iron, spray or brush with oil or butter, and cook according to manufacturers instructions until golden. Serve with berries, butter, maple syrup, apple cider reduction, whipped cream, or whatever else you prefer.

To make a buttermilk substitute, for every cup of milk add one tablespoon of lemon juice. Stir and set aside for 5 minutes. Use as directed in recipe.

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Brown Butter Apple Hand Pies

When in comes to baking, I tend to get a little obsessed. Case in point; last night Diane is flipping through a recent Sunset magazine and sees a recipe for the “Easiest Pie Dough”. The pictures look great of course, all flaky and butter, and the recipe says the dough is thrown together in 10 minutes.

We both have a bit of professional skepticism. It has been known for food stylists to fudge a flake to get that money shot, but this is Sunset magazine. They are straight up good peeps, we know this because we’ve worked with them on several magazine stories. You know, the kind of people with ethics and morals. We’ve heard great things about those kind of people.

But still, 10 minutes and that gorgeous flake. So she asks me to make it. She didn’t mean now, just whenever. Sometime in the near future just to see if the recipe it legit. Besides, who doesn’t love a great pie crust that can be thrown together quickly.

And that is where my obsession creeps in. It is already 10 at night. Its winding down with a cocktail, a few puppy belly rubs, and see if we can stay awake through half of  a movie. But I need to try this recipe now!

Per the recipe I toss the ingredients into the food processor and pulse as instructed. (BTW- this was a leap of faith for me. Normally if the butter isn’t pinched in, pinch me gone.) Less than 10 minutes later I had a dough ball split in two, flattened into discs, and chilling in the fridge. That was easy.

Too easy. I had decided to make some brown butter hand pies with the dough with the filling in the style of our brown butter apple galettes. The filling was originally inspired by one of Jennie’s recipes from In Jennie’s Kitchen. It is still, hands down (where does that phrase come from?) our favorite way to make a filling with really good apples. The nuttiness of the brown butter play in the background to slightly sweetened apples sans any spice.

Yet that wouldn’t take too long to throw together, so I had another recipe I was wanting to test out, and could use the pie dough for its crust as well, so I started working on that too. I know crazy, right. I should have been winding down by now, and instead was now making two different desserts just to try them out. I need help.

Long story short. The second dessert was a partial do over. I don’t think its creator checked their quantities very well since the filling didn’t even fill a 7? tart when it was supposed to be for a 9?. What the hell? I don’t need inaccuracies at 11 o’clock at night. However the apple hand pies came out just fine. The crust was as flaky as alluded, and the brown butter apple filling rocked, of course. Breakfast was ready, I just needed to get a little sleep and wait for the sun to come up.

-Todd

Yield: 18 Hand Pies

Total Time: 1 hour

The crust is from Sunset magazine's October issue, labeled as the Easiest Pie Dough. It is quite easy and good, but if you have a favorite dough already just substitute that in. The directions are for a half moon shape (childhood memories and all) but one could always slap two circles together to make a round hand pie, or else cut the dough into squares and make triangles or square pies. Let your imagination go wild.

1 full batch Pie Dough(enough dough to make two 9" pies)4 medium Apples (@ 1 1/2 lbs total), peeled, cored and thinly chopped1/4 cup (55g) packed Brown Sugar1/4 cup (50g) Sugar2 Tablespoons (15g) Flour2 teaspoons (10ml) fresh Lemon Juice1/3 cup (75g) unsalted Butter1 Egg, for egg wash1 Tablespoon Water (15ml) for egg washMake pie dough, form into 2 disks and chill for at least 30 minutes.Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a couple sheet pans with parchment paper.Toss the apples, sugars, flour, and lemon juice together in a large bowl.Heat butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Butter will initially foam up and then settle down. Continue cooking, swirling the pan occasionally, until the solids begin to separate and brown, and the liquids turns a light brown color. It should have a nutty, toasty aroma. Remove from heat.Add brown butter to apples and toss to coat.Working with one dough disk at a time, keeping the other chilling in the fridge, roll out to 1/8" thick on a lightly floured surface. Using a 4" ring cutter or 4" tartlet pan, cut out circles, re-rolling scraps (if they start to get warm, refrigerate then roll in 15-20 minutes).Whisk together egg and water. Brush dough circles with egg wash. Pile about 1/4 cup of apples in the center of the circle, and then fold over and pinch to seal edges.Place hand pie on lined sheet pan, brush top with egg wash, and score with a knife if desired. Repeat to fill sheet pan, placing hand pies at least an inch apart.When sheet pan is filled, place in oven. Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden. While first pan bakes, continue rolling, filling and folding remaining dough.After finished baking, allow to cool for 15 minutes and serve.

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Butter Rum Apple Crisp Tart & Pink Pearl Apples

Stumbling onto new varieties of apples is always such a wonderful treat. We keep mental notes of unique heirloom apple varieties, but because these varieties are often so difficult to source, we don’t often expect to find them even at our local farmers market. I’ve always had pink pearl apples on top of my wish list since I saw them featured in a magazine article long ago. Their pink flesh, delicate, pearly skin always reminded me of a fairy tale apple and I often find myself calling them Cinderella apples.

To my pleasant surprise, I stumbled on boxes of these beautiful specimens at Bi-Rite Market in San Francisco a few weeks ago while visiting for a shoot. When I recognized the beautiful skin of the apples from afar, I squealed out loud like a little girl finding a new barbie doll. Oh my goodness! Pink pearl apples….these are pink pearls! I’ve always wanted to bite into one and see if it really is as beautiful and delicious as everyone says!

I grabbed a bag and stuffed it full to three pounds worth of pink pearl jewels. They felt like jewels to me. It doesn’t take much to make me happy.

Before I could exit the store, I bit into an apple, negated all my proper lady-like manners and squealed out loud again with a mouth full of crisp, juicy tart flesh.

Oh it really is pink inside! It’s so gorgeous! I’m in love!

Take at the incredible flesh and beautiful skin of these apples. Aren’t they just stunning?

Never have I ever been so impressed with an apple that is not only gorgeous on the outside and inside, but also wonderful to eat as well. Often times, the most delicious heirloom apples I’ve had are the fugly ugly ones. Gorgeous, perfectly grown apples don’t impress me because rarely have I ever found one to taste as good as it looks.

But these pink pearl apples completely threw me off guard because I wasn’t expecting to find them, and when I did stumble on them, they were as beautiful as they were delicious.

After coming home from San Francisco, I wasn’t able to eat them fast enough. To make sure none of these apples went to waste, Todd made these fantastic butter rum apple crisp tarts with the pink pearls. Not only are they such a treat to eat fresh, they’re also perfect for baking because of their tart flavor.

These butter rum apple tarts are absolutely wonderful and now that Fall has arrived and a plethora of apples start inundating the farmers market, the options for these tarts are endless. Not only am I enjoying them for dessert, but I’m confident that they’ll pair wonderfully with my espresso tomorrow morning for breakfast. When possible, eat apple tarts for breakfast to start your day off right.

happy Fall,

diane

More apple recipes:

Yield: 8 Tartlets

Total Time: 1 hour

For this recipe we used Pink Pearl apples, but feel free to use any good baking apple. You can easily make this recipe into 2 larger tarts instead of the little tartlets, but the smaller size is a nice for individual or party desserts. The recipe may look long, but it is actually fairly quick and easy to make. The directions are broken down into their groupings to help make efficient use the the crust and toppings texture gain by slightly cooling before rolling or baking. Make the dough, while that chills make the filling, while that cools, make the topping, while that chills, start rolling the dough and fill, then top and bake.
We love the dual texture of the tart bottom, and the crisp topping, but if pressed for time, one could always just make a crisp by filling a baking dish with the apple filling, topping with the oat topping, then bake. But if you have the extra 15 minutes and the tart pans, make the crust. It is delicious and easy to make and handle.

4 c (500g) Flour1 stick (115g) cold unsalted Butter, cut into 1/2" pieces1 t (5g) Kosher or Sea Salt2 T (25g) Sugar2 lrg Egg Yolks1/3 c (80ml) cold Water7-8 medium Apples, peeled, cored, & sliced about 1/4" thin1 stick (115g) unsalted Butter, cut into chunks1/4 c (60ml) Dark Rum1/3 c (85g) packed Brown Sugar2 T (15g) Flour1/3 c (50g) Flour1/4 c (50g) packed Brown Sugar1/2 t (3g) Kosher or Sea Salt1/2 stick (57g) cold unsalted Butter2/3 c (60g) Old Fashioned Oats

Preheat oven to 375°F. Set aside eight 4 3/4" x 3/4" or 4" x 1 1/4" tartlet pans

In a medium bowl, pinch together flour, butter pieces, salt, and sugar with your fingertips until most of the big chunks of butter are flattened or broken up.Whisk together egg yolks and cold water until combined. Incorporate into flour mix until flour binds together and forms a rough ball (you may need to gently knead the ball to get the last of the flour to incorporate into the ball.)Divide the ball into 8 equal pieces (@110g each) roll each into a ball then flatten slightly into disks. Set aside in refrigerator until filling and topping is made.Place sliced apples in a large bowl. Gently melt butter and add rum to butter. Set aside to cool slightly while combining other ingredients.Add brown sugar, flour and lemon juice to the apples. Toss gently to evenly coat apples. Pour in butter-rum mix to apples. Toss gently to mix and set aside.In a medium bowl, pinch together flour, brown sugar, salt, and butter until it resembles coarse sand. Using your hands, pinch and mix in oats until oats are evenly mixed and are in small clumps. Set aside in refrigerator until ready to top tarts.Lightly flour a work surface. One at a time, roll out crust dough disks until large enough to place in tartlet pans (@ 7" x 1/8"). Line dough into pans, pressing sides into grooves of pan. Remove excess dough edges by folding it out and pressing it against the tops of the molds. Dock (form little indentions) the base of the tarts with your fingertips. Repeat with remaining disks of dough.Layer in apple filling into each tart. Remove oat topping from refrigerator and divide topping between the tarts.Place pans on a sheet pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until crust and topping are golden brown. Set aside to cool slightly, then un-mold and serve.

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Deep-Fried Apple Spring Rolls Recipe

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November 17, 2011Deep-Fried Apple Spring Rolls Recipe

Last year when I was in Beijing to do research for the tofu book, my friend Lillian Chou, food editor at Time Out Beijing, dragged me and stylist Karen Shinto to a McDonald’s. We were there to eat tofu but she insisted that we first try the fried fruit pies. “You can hardly get them anymore in the States so eat up girls!” Lillian said. I hadn’t been in a McDonald’s in years (primarily to use the rest room) yet there we were eating fried pineapple pies at McDonald’s in China.

It was surreal but truth be told, it was good. In fact, the fried pie took me back to my childhood, when my family would buy deep-fried fruit pies at the supermarket. We didn’t know they were bad for us. We got them on super duper sale along with the occasional Twinkies nearby. My favorite was the fried apple pie.

That experience in Beijing, my longing for fried apple pies, and a frozen package of spring roll skins leftover from the Chef’s special crunchy shrimp balls led me to create this spring roll. I should also mention that I have an abundance of apples right now – thanks to generous neighbors and my overbuying at the farmer’s market. I live in an apple farming area. You’ll be seeing another apple recipe or two later.

At first I thought of recreating Southern American-style deep-fried apple pies and found recipes by Paula Deen and Edna Lewis online. I realized that the biscuit-like leavened flaky pastry reflected what Southern cooks had on hand. Shoot, why not make a spiced, chunky apple sauce-like filling and stuff it inside what I had on hand – spring roll skins! (Gluten-free folks could use one of the gluten-free dumpling doughs and deep-fry the empanada-like result. It would look more like a traditional deep-fried fruit pie.)

I tried it out the concept this afternoon with tart-sweet Pippin apples, adding crystallized ginger, cinnamon, star anise, and vanilla to tilt things toward Asia. A little powdered sugar balanced the filling, which I purposefully made not oversweet to let the fruit shine.

“Add some vanilla ice cream and it’s all over,” my husband said. Sips of bourbon aren’t bad either.  I imagine making these through the holiday season as they are festive and fun.

RECIPE

Fried Apple Spring Rolls

Any tart-sweet apple will do for this recipe, such as Pippin and Granny Smith. You can tweak the flavor at the end of the filling cooking time. For a pineapple rendition, use the filling in the Spiced Pineapple-Filled Pastries recipe (page 195) of Asian Dumplings; make 1 1/2 times the recipe to yield enough for these spring rolls.

Makes 12 to serve 4 to 6

4 tart-sweet apples (1 1/3 pounds total)
1 to 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (use maximum for a richer flavor)
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar
2 pinches salt
Generous 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon or cassia
1/2 star anise (4 robust points)
3 to 4 tablespoons small dice crystallized ginger
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract, dark rum, or bourbon
12 large Shanghai spring roll skins (also called lumpia wrappers)
1 egg, beaten well
Canola oil for deep-frying
Powdered sugar for garnish

1. Peel, core, and dice the apples. You should have about 4 cups. Set aside.

2. In a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat, cook the butter, lemon juice, and sugar until melted. Add the salt, cinnamon, star anise, ginger, and apples. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples have softened and collapsed to roughly half of their original volume, 10 to 12 minutes. It should mash down as you stir but there should be some visible chunks left. As the mixture cools, it breaks down a little more than what you see here:

3. Remove from the heat, cool for about 5 minutes, then retrieve and discard the star anise. Stir in the vanilla. Taste and add extra sugar or salt for a balanced sweet-tart finish. Set aside to cool completely before using. Makes 1 1/2 packed cups.

4. For each spring roll, place a skin on your work surface. (I had large square skins so I placed it one with of the corners pointing toward me.) Position 2 packed tablespoons of filling in the lower third of the skin. Shape it into 3/4-inch-wide log. Bring up the bottom to cover the filling, give it a full roll to secure.

Brush all exposed surfaces with egg, fold in the sides and roll up into a cigar shape. Repeat with the remaining skins and filling.

5. Heat 1 to 1 1/4 inches of oil in a wok, saucepan, or deep skillet over medium-high heat to about 350ºF on a deep-fry thermometer. (If you don’t have a deep-fry thermometer, stick a dry bamboo chopstick into the oil; if bubbles rise immediately to the surface, the oil is ready.) Slide in few spring rolls and fry for about 3 minutes, turning as needed, until golden brown and very crisp. Remove from the oil and drain. Return the oil to temperature before frying more.

6. Let these cool 5 minutes before dusting with powdered sugar and eating. Though best straight soon after frying, these can be pre-fried several hours before serving and reheated in a 350F toaster oven for about 5 minutes until hot.

Related VWK posts and sites

Fried Oyster Spring Rolls recipeCrunchy Shrimp Balls (aka Chef’s Special Balls) recipeGluten-Free Asian Dumpling Dough: Best Uses will link you to the dough optionsMcDonald’s fried apple pie locator – a bit outdated but you can get a sense of where they are served.

 

Posted in Asian Food Culture, Recipes: All, Recipes: Banh (Crepes, dumplings, cakes, bread) Recipes, Recipes: Deep-Fried, Recipes: Dessert and Sweets, Recipes: Gluten-Free , Recipes: Vegetarian | Permalink

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Oh my god do they look awesome!

Posted by:Jeff Brennan |November 18, 2011 at 05:47 AM

Hi Andrea,
Is it possible to prepare the apple filling the night before and store in the fridge to be roll up the next day? Does it affects the color , taste of the filling? thanks

Posted by:Amy |November 18, 2011 at 11:02 AM

@Amy: Absolutely! The filling can sit in the fridge for a couple of days. It's basically like a chunky apple sauce.
Thanks for asking.

Posted by:Andrea Nguyen |November 18, 2011 at 02:39 PM

Really nice...an interesting change-up for Thanksgiving dessert.

Amy
www.theglutenfreemaven.com

Posted by:Amy |November 19, 2011 at 08:45 PM

The winner of this giveaway will receive a $100 gift card to Lulu*s to spend on whatever their heart desires.

Posted by:Nike Zoom Kobe VI Kids Shoes White Gold |November 22, 2011 at 12:59 AM

I like to eat this deep fried apple spring rolls recipe. It is very testy and delicious. I want to make it tonight.

Posted by:avi player |November 23, 2011 at 07:49 PM

Very few recipes captured my attention like this one has today. This will be tried with my daughter tonight. Thanks for making this available.

Posted by:Amy Ng @ Eggies Canada |November 25, 2011 at 11:34 AM

Oh deep fried pies. I miss those. These look so yummay :9~~

Posted by:Michelle |November 26, 2011 at 10:37 AM

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