You know that recipe that mom always used to make? Well, in our family, during the holiday season, the dessert to have was always apple crisp. But for what it’s made of, apple crisp is actually a lot more complicated than it appears to be. Either that, or my first attempt at baking was foiled by using the wrong ingredients and utensils on a foreign measurement system. I can’t decide.
Basically, a mother-approved apple crisp should have the following characteristics:
- a layer of soft baked apples who maintain their shape
- a crispy, sweet crust evenly coating the apples
My “apple crisp” resembled more of a sweetened apple sauce with a loose oat blanket.
Upon entering the kitchen, however, my friends failed to notice the disappointment in my face, and proceeded to distribute and devour portions of the semisolid mixture before I could warn them of its rather cafeteria-like consistency.
But on a second thought, I realized that most Germans and Mexicans have probably never heard of apple crisp. So I swallowed my pride – all of its sugary oateyness – and realized that I don’t necessarily need to stick to a recipe to make people happy.
