This old-fashioned baked dessert uses up a lot of bread crumbs, but it’s fine to mix and match types of bread. You can even use sweet breads, like cinnamon raisin or Hawaiian, to make these crumbs. For the fruit, this is an anything-goes sort of recipe, like crisp or trifle. Whatever you choose, core, pit, and peel it and dice it into bite-sized pieces. If you’re using frozen fruit, don’t thaw it before baking.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup butter, melted, plus more for the pan
- 3 cups bread crumbs
- 2 tsp granulated sugar
- 3 cups bite-sized fruit pieces
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour or tapioca starch
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon or ground ginger
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Butter an 8-inch-square baking pan. In a small bowl, combine the butter and bread crumbs, stirring to coat the crumbs. Sprinkle in the sugar and stir briefl y. Sprinkle 1 cup of the bread-crumb mixture on the bottom of the baking pan.
In a medium bowl, toss the fruit with the lemon juice, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Spread half of the mixture on top of the bread crumbs in the baking pan, then sprinkle another cup of crumbs on top.
Spread the remaining fruit on top of this layer and sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup crumbs. Gently press down on the layers. Cover with foil and bake for about 25 minutes, until the fruit is bubbling, then remove the foil and bake, uncovered, for 8 to 12 minutes, until the top layer of crumbs is crisp and deep golden brown. Serve warm.
Brown Betty is best eaten the same day it’s made, but it can be reheated (uncovered) in a 300ºF oven until hot through.
Makes 6 to 9 servings.
About this recipe
Excerpted with permission from Scraps, Peels, and Stems: Recipes and Tips for Rethinking Food Waste at Home (Skipstone, October 2018) by Jill Lightner.
