I was asked to prepare a parve (non-dairy) dessert for Brandeis's Tu B'Shevat seder. Since Tu B'Shevat is the new year of the trees, I initially decided to make an apple crisp, using non-dairy margarine instead of butter in the topping.
After peeling and chopping the apples, and sprinkling them with sugar, I realized I was out of margarine. So, I decided that instead of making a crumbly apple crisp topping, I would make a brown sugar sauce to pour over the apples. The sauce had cooked very nicely and helped keep the apples from drying out. It was very difficult for me (and the seder coordinator) to only take tiny taste samples.
Here's the recipe. The preparation of the apples, and some of the ingredients of the topping, come from an Ocean-Spray cranberry apple crisp recipe (which has been a resounding hit with my friends on multiple occasions):
1. Preheat oven to 375˚F. Grease a 9" square pan (I don't have a 9x9 pan, so I use a 9" pie plate or 9x13x2 pan).
2. Peel, core and slice about 5 medium apples* into 1" sections. Layer in pan. Sprinkle 1/3 cup granulated sugar over the apple pieces.
3. Prepare the sauce: use about 1/2 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1 egg (if you cook kosher, remember to make sure the egg is blood free), 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1 tsp vanilla. Mix in a small bowl until everything is well-blended. The sauce should be slightly thinner than brownie batter.
4. Pour sauce over the apples. Bake 45 minutes in a normal oven, or about 35-40 minutes in an apartment-sized oven.
The apples taste best hot, but are also yummy cool.
* I used Gala apples, because they were the best variety at Brandeis's convenience store. When I get cooking apples at a grocery store, I usually get Pink Lady apples or something similar.
