Campfire Crisp

A few weeks ago, some friends gathered upstate on a perfect fall day for a pig roast. While the men folk manned the rotisserie I go to work on dessert, and inspired by Kelsey's camp cobbler, I decided to give dutch oven cooking a try. I still had a mess of apples left from my apple picking adventure and I knew a crisp would be just the thing to feed our crowd so I packed up all of the dry ingredients for my favorite crisp topping in a ziploc bag then mushed (technical term) the butter in when I was ready to bake. For the fruit portion of the equation, I chopped up the apples and tossed them in a buttered dutch oven with a lonely quince, a handful of concord grapes, and a bit of sugar and spice. I put the dutch oven over indirect heat, put some coals on top, and hoped for the best.

Campfire Apple, Concord & Quince Crisp

Make sure to not let the dutch oven sit directly on the fire and check it every 10 minutes or so to see if it needs to be rotated away from the flame, a set of heavy duty fire gloves works great for this. If you don't have quince or concord grapes, just use an extra apple or two.

5 pounds baking apples, about 10 - peeled (or not) and chopped into medium pieces
1 medium quince - peeled, cored and finely chopped
1 cup concord grapes cut in half and seeded
juice and zest of one lemon
juice and zest of half of an orange
1/2-2/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt

Crisp Topping 

6 ounces soft butter
3.5 ounces rolled oats
2.25 ounces all purpose flour
2.25 ounces whole wheat flour
5 ounces brown sugar
1/4t baking soda
1/2t salt

Combine all of the filling ingredients in a dutch oven with a lid.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, flours, sugar, baking soda and salt. Add in the butter and use your hands to work it into the mixture until it holds together in medium-sixed clumps. Sprinkle it evenly over the filling. Alternately, pack all of the dry ingredients in a ziploc bag, then when you are ready to bake, toss in the soft butter and mush it all around until it is evenly incorporated.

Place the dutch oven on a few rocks above the fire, then put about 5 (big) hot coals on the lid. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is browned, rotating every 10 minutes or so to ensure even cooking.

And yes, that is the back end of a whole pig up there in that photo. Sorry if anyone is offended by that image.

Apple Yogurt Cake

I would put this cake in the "everyday" category and with a pretty equal ratio of fruit to cake, it makes an excellent breakfast alongside a hot cup of coffee or tea. It's also the perfect treat to throw together when you fall victim to the glorious beauty of an apple orchard on a fall day and pick far too many apples. If you've been apple picking I'm sure you know what I mean.

Apple Yogurt Cake
adapted from Smitten Kitchen
yield one, 8-inch cake

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1-1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
2 Tablespoons bourbon
1 cup plain yogurt
2/3 cup olive oil
3 cups thinly sliced or finely chopped tart apples such as ginger gold, mutsu, or jonagold
confectioner's sugar (for dusting)

Preheat oven to 350º and butter and flour a 9-inch cake pan.

1. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until light yellow and fluffy. Beat in the orange zest, yogurt and bourbon.
3. Working in batches alternately add the sifted flour and olive oil. Gently fold in the apples and spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake the cake until golden and a toothpick comes out clean, 55-65 minutes. Let the cake cool on a rack for 15 minutes then invert the cake onto a rack to cool completely. Dust with confectioner's sugar before serving.

Concord Grape Jam and Concord Grape Handpies

I love that you can tell I took these three photos over the course of a day. Fresh grapes in the morning, grape jam by midday, and by evening there were grape hand pies fresh and warm. I've written about my love for concord grapes on this here blog a couple of times, but this year was the first time I went all of the way and made myself a proper batch of grape jam to (hopefully) last the year.

I preserved a lot less this summer than I have in years past. Partly because I was busier than usual and partly because I wanted to make sure that I was only putting up things I really wanted to eat later in the year. Judging by the fact that we ran through an entire pint of this jam in about a week I think I stumbled upon a winner.

Once you've put the jam together, the hand pies are really a cinch to put together. Just roll out a pie crust, cut it up, dot it with jam and bake until golden and crisp.

Concord Grape Jam
adapted from The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook
yield, 5-6 half pints

4lbs stemmed Concord grapes
2 1/4 pounds sugar
3 ounces lemon juice
1 ounce orange juice

1. Separate the flesh of the grapes from the skins by gently pinching the flesh from each grape, being careful to catch all of the grape juices. Reserve the skins. Add the grape flesh to a small saucepan and cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes or until the seeds start to separate from the flesh. Force as much of the grape pulp through a fine mesh sieve as possible and discard the seeds.
2. Add the grape pulp, skins, sugar, and juices to a large non-reactive pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook the jam, stirring occasionally, until it comes to 220º or passes the wrinkle test, 20-30 minutes. Test the jam after 20 minutes to prevent overcooking. Ladle the finished jam into clean jars and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Concord Grape Hand Pies
yield 6 hand pies

One batch of your favorite double-crust pie dough: See my favorites here and here
3/4 cup concord grape jam
1 egg for egg wash
2 Tablespoons coarse sugar

Preheat oven to 400º

Roll the dough into a rectangle roughly 12 inches by 16 inches and 1/8''-1/4'' thick. Use a knife to cut the dough into even rectangles roughly 3 inches by 4 inches. Brush the edges of half of the rectangles with egg wash (these will be the bottom crusts) and top each rectangle with about 2 Tablespoons of jam. Top each pie with another piece of dough and crimp the edges with a fork. Move the pies to a baking sheet and refrigerate 15 minutes or until firm. When you are ready to bake the pies, brush each one with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar then cut a vent into the top. Bake the pies for 20-25 minutes or until deep golden brown.