Everyday Cooking

Applesauce Parfait with Cinnamon Breadcrumbs

October 10, 2013

Each Thursday, Emily Vikre (a.k.a fiveandspice) will be sharing a new way to love breakfast -- because breakfast isn't just the most important meal of the day. It's also the most awesome.

Today: A classic Norwegian dessert gets reworked for breakfast. 

Applesauce parfait from Food52

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There’s a Norwegian dessert called “veiled farmgirls.” It belongs to the trifle or parfait family of desserts -- homemade applesauce layered with billows of whipped cream and toasted cinnamon breadcrumbs. It’s simple and delicious. And, it has some lore in our family because my mother, in addition to the standard tales of walking to school barefoot in the snow uphill both ways, would shame us kids with stories of how they never ever got to eat dessert except on birthdays and the most important holidays. The one time when her mom decided to make veiled farmgirls on just an ordinary day it was soooo unbelievably exciting and was going to be such a treat. But, when they took their first bites they discovered, to their horror, that my grandmother had accidentally used salt instead of sugar, and the dessert was inedible. I still feel terrible on my mother’s behalf when I think about this soul-crushing experience.

I wish I had more willpower, but I can’t say I limit my dessert making to only birthdays and the most important holidays. Nor do I have too many scruples about eating veiled farmgirls in its traditional form for breakfast. But, I guess I do have a scruple now and then because the other day when I was craving it, I decided to try to make a slightly less dessert-y version with the simple swap of yogurt for the whipped cream. It made for a different and quite excellent breakfast. Of course, you can also make it with the traditional whipped cream and still eat it for breakfast. It’s been done before.

Applesauce Parfait from Food52

Applesauce Parfait with Cinnamon Breadcrumbs 

Serves 4

Applesauce

About 3 pounds cooking apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch chunks
Juice from 1 lemon
1 stick of cinnamon
1/4 cup brown sugar, plus more sugar (brown or white) to taste
1/2 cup water
Pinch of salt

Parfaits

1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter
Homemade applesauce (above)
About 3 cups plain or vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

Photos by Emily Vikre

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  • beth young
    beth young
  • fiveandspice
    fiveandspice
I like to say I'm a lazy iron chef (I just cook with what I have around), renegade nutritionist, food policy wonk, and inveterate butter and cream enthusiast! My husband and I own a craft distillery in Northern Minnesota called Vikre Distillery (www.vikredistillery.com), where I claimed the title, "arbiter of taste." I also have a doctorate in food policy, for which I studied the changes in diet and health of new immigrants after they come to the United States. I myself am a Norwegian-American dual citizen. So I have a lot of Scandinavian pride, which especially shines through in my cooking on special holidays. Beyond loving all facets of food, I'm a Renaissance woman (translation: bad at focusing), dabbling in a variety of artistic and scientific endeavors.

2 Comments

beth Y. October 10, 2013
This looks and sounds delicious! I will certainly use up some of my apples and give this a go!
 
fiveandspice October 13, 2013
Hope you enjoy it!