Nearly perfect apple crisp

When autumn comes around, one of my favorite activities is to pick (or sometimes just buy) a bunch of local apples and turn them into dessert. And, while I appreciate a broad range of apple desserts, one of my favorites is apple crisp.

This fall, I discovered an apple crisp recipe by Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa). I made it twice, the first time pretty much following the recipe exactly except for a slight increase in apples to accommodate a different size pan. The topping was outstanding, but the filling was a bit mushy and too citrusy. The second time, I reduced the citrus and used half Granny Smith apples and half Gala, decreasing the sugar slightly due to the sweetness of the Galas. This improved the flavor of the filling, and though it was one of the best apple crisps I've ever eaten, the filling was still too soft. The next time, I'll try baking at a higher temperature for less time and/or cutting the baking time and broiling the top, to try to keep the apples a bit more together while still browning the crisp.

For those that want to try the recipe, the changes I made were as follows:

• Use half tart, crisp apples (e.g., Granny Smith) and half sweet, crisp apples (e.g., Gala)
• Use only the zest of half an orange (no lemon zest)
• Use only 1 Tbsp. lemon juice (no orange juice)
• Decrease sugar to 3/8 cup
• Decrease nutmeg to 1/2 teaspoon (mainly this is because I don't care for nutmeg)
• Bake in 13x9 rectangular baking dish
  

Blueberry muffins

For a co-worker's birthday, I made the Cook's Illustrated blueberry muffin recipe. The muffins looked beautiful and were very good, though still not quite as good as a great bakery muffin. The batter was a little less sweet than I'm used to, and the texture a bit more fluffy/creamy. I also made a note to add a few more blueberries next time--maybe a full pint instead of 1.5 cups. Still, they were quite good for homemade, and they were a big hit at the office.

Banana nut bread

On Saturday, I made banana nut bread, following the recipe from Cook's Illustrated. I actually followed a variation for chocolate banana nut bread, with about 2.5 ounces of chocolate shavings in the batter and a bit less sugar to compensate, but I really didn't feel it added much. That said, it was a delicious banana bread. Moist and chewy, with a slightly crisp (but not dried-out) crust and lots of flavor.

My only gripe is that, once I let it cool all day and wrapped it in plastic wrap, the crust lost its crispness. Maybe if I had wrapped it in aluminum foil or put it in a paper bag like a bakery bread, it would have maintained the consistency. It still tasted great this morning, though, and I think most people expect the outside of a banana bread to be soft, anyway.