2 Kitchens, 1 Recipe: Apple Snow

For our second 2 Kitchens, 1 Recipe, I noticed it was October and chose this recipe with apples. Katie, do you remember how hard it is to feel like fall in Arizona? It was 100º here last Saturday! I am wearing ridiculously few clothes as I write this! But I won't let Arizona beat me down! I spit in your face, Arizona, and I cook things like squash and apple snow because it is seasonal! You won't beat me!

I found this recipe in my mom's copy of Julia Child's The Way We Cook (not finding it on Amazon, otherwise I'd provide a link). Three components: applesauce, the mousse part, and caramel sauce. It's not something I would normally be attracted to making without this 2K1R thing we have going on and I kind of envision that, now that I've made it, I'll think about it for a while and think of a way to make it newer and hipper—not unlike, or...actually...exactly like the Recipe Redux column in The New York Times Sunday Magazine, which is one of the main reasons I subscribe to the Sunday paper at all.

Applesauce

3 lbs Granny Smith apples
1 lemon, all we want are the peel and the juice
1/2 c. sugar OR, what I used, 3/4 c. agave nectar
pinch of salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Core and quarter the apples, leaving the skin on. Put in a large pot over medium heat, with the lemon peel and lemon juice and cinnamon. Cook, covered, about 30 minutes, stirring and mashing occasionally.

Puree apples and return to pot. Add sugar or agave nectar to taste and salt, while stirring over medium heat. Cook until the mixture coats the back of a spoon.

Apple snow

3 c. homemade applesauce
1/2 c. to 2/3 c. egg whites (4 large eggs-ish), at room temperature*
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

Ms. Child suggests that you just beat the room temperature egg whites with the cream of tartar until stiff peaks form, then add the applesauce in 1/2 cup increments, beating on high, until it's all incorporated.

I, on the other hand, suggest boiling a bit of water in a pot and beating the eggs over it so that they get a bit cooked. Also, they beat really quickly. Then add applesauce and beat until it's all mixed together. This may lead to a few chunks of egg white—but your mind's at ease and, for me, that was worth it.

*Hey! I used egg whites that I had frozen and: good news! Frozen egg whites, once defrosted, work just as well as fresh ones.

Caramel sauce

I used the Smitten Kitchen caramel sauce that I also used on the blood orange tart.


Then, because I had some applewood smoked bacon around (thanks to my mom, who brought it from the White Mountains), I made some caramelized bacon for garnish and miscellaneous snacking. By the way, I think this caramelized bacon recipe is one of the most pleasant-to-read recipes ever. Recipe-writers aren't often so wittily conversational.

Finished product:


And, now, the questions:

What's your favorite part of this recipe?

This is, hands down, the best applesauce I've ever had. It's so appley and lemony and EASY. Because, you know, it sounds so picturesque to buy a bunch of apples and make something with them but, about four apples into the ordeal, peeling apples is kind of a pain in the butt. Here you don't have to peel any of them and, I feel, it makes the applesauce taste even better.

Did you have any problems making this recipe?

Did I. First, the apples were taking a long time and I got fidgety and put the heat down and went to go watch a new 30 Rock episode, thinking I would stir during commercials. This worked, but I overcooked the apples and didn't have to do any mashing at all. I think it ended up fine.

But, THEN, I bought half and half instead of cream for the caramel sauce! And used that azucar moreno instead of white sugar and so my caramel sauce, while less bad-for-you?, wasn't quite as thick and creamy as if I had used the ingredients that Smitten Kitchen told me to. Still, it tasted caramel-y and I'm not really complaining about it.

Did you like the finished product?

I like how it's not the normal sort of flavor to be made into a mousse but, at the same time, I wish the apple snow tasted a bit more like the applesauce, which I'm clearly in love with. I do like, though, how it's a bit of a sophisticated dessert and I love the texture of mousse in my mouth and the way it smooshes about.

A word about the applesauce: because it uses the peels of the apples it comes out a weird color that isn't strictly appetizing. If one were inclined to describe the color of things through bodily fluid, mucous would be a contender in describing the applesauce. Still, delicious.

Also, I'm not crazy about the name "apple snow." It's so New England and, not to overuse the word in one post, picturesque. A bit like a Norman Rockwell painting, if that helps to see what I'm saying. (But, I just read in Vanity Fair that Norman Rockwell is being looked at anew so that maybe his schmaltzyness isn't quite so schmaltzy. If that's what Vanity Fair says...you won't find me arguing with VF.)

Will you make this again?

The applesauce, almost certainly. The apple snow—so precious, I can hardly write it without quotes—maybe...I wonder what it would be like frozen or as the filling of something else. Also with more cinnamon.