A couple of years ago, I read a few lines in the introduction of Zoe Nathan’s cookbook, Huckleberry, that have forever changed the way I bake. She contends that most baking recipes don't call for enough salt, so as a rule of thumb, double the amount! It’ll make your recipe taste "a million times better,” she explains, since salt is needed to make baked goods taste like something other than sugar. I took her advice to heart—learning when and how much salt to add to different recipes—and the flavor of my baked goods has, well, gotten "a million times better." Now I almost exclusively use salted butter in my baking (preferring its flavor over unsalted butter plus added salt), and I love looking for other ways to boost the flavor and complexity of baked goods.
Take this Skillet Miso-Apple Crisp, a rework of a standby version I've been making for years. Rather than simply adding salt to the filling and topping, I turned to miso, one of my all-time favorite condiments. Miso imparts not only saltiness but an unmistakable umami flavor that adds so much oomph and interest to sweet and savory dishes alike. I also used salted butter to amp up the overall flavor of the filling and crumble topping. And speaking of crumble toppings, I took a cue from Russ Parsons' Apricot-Raspberry Crisp from Kristen Miglore's Genius Desserts. By forming the crumbs into craggy, irregularly shaped rounds, you get a topping that perches on top of the fruit rather than sinking to the bottom, or turning to mush. The topping bronzes in the oven and stays truly crisp, even hours after it's baked! A very good thing indeed.
All of these simple tips and tricks result in a new-fashioned apple crisp that tastes like the classic, but better. Maybe even a million times better! It's not too salty, it's not too sweet—it's somewhere in the middle which allows the flavor of the apples to really shine through. I can think of no better minimum-effort, maximum-reward dessert out there. So do yourself a favor and make this one for your next dinner party. Serve it warm straight from the skillet with big scoops of ice cream or whipped cream. Trust me, it'll be devoured in minutes. —EmilyC
See what other Food52ers are saying.