An apple a day might keep the doctor away, but it won’t keep Betty from crashing your party. October 5 is National Apple Betty Day!
Apple Betty (also known as Apple Brown Betty, Brown Betty, Apple Crisp, and Apple Crumble) is an American dessert dating back to Colonial times. It’s like a cross between a cobbler and a bread pudding, and consists of layers of apple seasoned with cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar, and buttered or sweetened bread crumbs. It reminds me of a deconstructed apple pie (I’ve always thought “deconstructed” was a cop out chefs use when they run out of time to properly finish a dish). The recipe first appeared in print in the Yale Literary Magazine in1864, though there is no record of who Betty was, or why she had a dessert named after her. We do know that the “brown” refers to the brown sugar used to sweeten the apples, and that it was a favorite dessert of Ronald and Nancy Reagan.
My mom once again helped out with this challenge. She made an apple betty and brought it over for dinner. Tara’s mom, Tracy, is in town visiting for the weekend, so we all had dinner together. Mad props to my mother-in-law for making a perfect whipped cream swirl on top of the apple betty. Which, by the way, was wonderful! It was like an apple pie with a crumb topping instead of a crust. Delicious stuff. Thanks, moms!
Related articles
- Apple Crumble (ramblingramas.com)
- For When You Can’t Decide Between Apple Pie and Apple Crisp: Apple Crumble Pie (climbingthecrazytree.wordpress.com)
Eat My Words 
That Apple Betty was amazing!! Thanks to your Mom for making it and thanks for letting me partake of this particular food challenge. It was yummy!!
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We’re glad we got to share this challenge with you! And yes, my mom outdid herself on this one. Curious that there is NO COMMENT FROM HER. Shy one, that gal. (November 9 is National Scrapple Day. If we get in early, then maybe you’ll get lucky and we can share!!).
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You got yourself a deal…whatever Scrapple is.
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Thanks for the link! I agree deconstructed sounds like the lazy cop out! Maybe just an easy way to make something cost more by making it look like it belongs in a high end restaurant?
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Either that, or the chef ran out of a crucial ingredient and tried to pretend he meant to make it that way…
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