My sister came to dinner last night and, even though I had planned a perfectly nice dinner and she doesn't really particularly like dessert, I felt a sort of obligation as the cook to provide one. Of course, being me, this feeling only occurred to me at the last minute so I needed to improvise a sweet with pantry items.
I had made applesauce for L. just that morning, there were oats in the pantry, butter in the fridge and some clotted cream left from making Cornish Saffron Buns last week. Apple crisp seemed the obvious direction in which to take this but I had applesauce to hand, not fresh apples to bake. What to do? The ensuing deconstructed crisp is a useful quick Fall dessert.
2 cups applesauce, homemade or jarred
1 cup oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsps butter
large pinch cinnamon
pinch of salt
Clotted cream, whipped cream, ice cream or yogurt to top the dessert
Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. As soon as it has melted, add the salt, sugar, cinnamon and oats and cook, stirring often, until the oats are golden and crisp. This takes about 5 minutes; keep an eye on this as it will go from golden to burnt in 2 seconds flat. Set aside to cool, stirring from time to time to keep the oats from cooling into one large piece of crisp.
I suggest assembling this at the very last minute. I made mine before dinner and the crisp lost some of its texture. Assembly is easy, all you have to do is layer oatmeal crisp and applesauce into whatever dishes you plan on serving it in and top with clotted cream or whatever you have to hand to gild the lily.
