Vegan MoFo 29: Apple Crisp and Waiting for the Storm

We're all waiting for the storm now.

As part of my disaster preparedness plan, I used up my 4 lbs of apple to make the crisp recipe from Vegan Pie in the Sky. Despite having had this book for about a year now, this is only the second recipe I've made from it.

To be honest, I'm not in love. I've made simpler crisps with more flavor. I'm not going to give up on the book though, I'll try a bunch of pies before I make my decision.

The major obstacle in this was that I didn't have any ground cinnamon. I did, however, have cinnamon sticks, a magic bullet, and a coffee grinder.

We went back to the farmers' market this morning, and it was a bit of a ghost town. On the plus side, we got two deluxe trays of mushrooms again because they were on sale! Also, the line at the pickle stand was finally not some twisted waiting game, so we got wasabi pickles!

Vegan MoFo 24: Asian Pear Crisp with Walnut Topping

I had an Asian pear once awhile back, and I wasn't really wild about it. It was pretty, but a little syrupy-sweet for me. I was intrigued, though, by the promise of a fruit crisp flavored with a bit of bourbon, like the one in How to Pick a Peach. Besides, this recipe specifically mandated the use of ramekins for baking, and I'm always looking for an excuse to use them.

So we made Asian Pear Crisp with Walnut Topping to take to our engagement with friends. The recipe called for 3 pears, or 1.5 lbs. My pears were a little small, so I had to use about 10 of them to get enough. Coring the little buggers was a pain, but probably the worst part of the job.

I will complain about the two setbacks though. First, I had toasted the walnuts for the topping, and I suppose I didn't give them enough time to cool. So instead of the crumbly textured dough I was supposed to end up with, I had a buttery spread on my hands. I topped the fruit mix with it anyway though, and the dessert still ended up smashing. It was just more of a smashing cobbler than a crisp.

The second came when I was finally using my box of Healthy Top. I take issue with the name, because come on, dessert is not healthy, but I was still excited. I refrigerated it prior to opening, and started whipping. Then I noticed a after-factory sticker on the tetra-pack box that said "Oops!!!! Freeze Immediately And Whip As Soon As Possible." So I bought this off a shelf, but I have to freeze immediately? What the hell?

Well it tasted awful. So we snagged some vanilla So Delicious on the way out, and it was great. I'm just bummed that I didn't get to have the bourbon cream recommended by the book.

All of that aside, this knocked everyone's socks off. Everyone loved it, especially me! And I felt like I had brought it, so to speak, on the behalf of fancy cocktail hour vegans everywhere. This was no more difficult to make than a plain old apple crisp - in fact it had fewer ingredients than many of the crisps I've made over time. But it sounds so showy, and it has bourbon-soaked raisins in it.