Grandma's Crow's Nest

Grandma's Crow's Nest

This recipe was found under the D tab for desserts. 

This is not my grandmother's recipe and I'm not sure where it came from, but it looks like another newspaper clipping. The recipe is similar to apple crisp, but it's upside down! I'm not sure why they want you to invert it, but I suppose that's the "nest" of it. It was fairly easy to make and would be best enjoyed on a cold fall evening. Here's the original: 

Grandma’s Crow’s Nest

4 or 5 Tart apples

1 Cup flour

2 Teaspoons baking powder

1 & ¼ Teaspoons cinnamon

¼ Teaspoon salt

¼ Cup sugar

3 Tablespoons Crisco

¼ Cup milk

½ Cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Pare and slice apples in a pie tin greased well and sprinkled with sugar

and cinnamon.

2. Mix flour, baking powder, salt and sugar and sift twice. Mix in Crisco.

Add milk to make soft dough. Pour over apples.

3. Bake in hot oven about 25 minutes or until apples are done. Turn out on

plate upside down.

4. Mix ½ cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and shake over apples.

5. Serve hot with whipped cream.

6. Makes 8 servings.

The only thing you may  not have in your house for this recipe is 4 or 5 apples. You can use any kind of apple you'd like. I had some Cortland apples on hand so I used five of those. 

First things first; preheat your oven. The recipe says "bake in a hot oven", but doesn't specify the temperature. I set mine to 350 degrees and it worked just fine. I'm not sure why they left that crucial part of the recipe out. As far as I know you've always been able to set the temperature on an oven! 

Next you'll need a pie tin. I happened to have one that has a removable bottom which made it easier to turn over when it was done. You can use any kind of pie pan you have, just make sure it is greased well so the nest can come out after cooking. 

Now you'll need to prepare the apples. Pare (peel) them first. You are welcome to use a knife to peel, but please be careful. I used a peeler instead and it made the task fairly easy. 

 

When the apples have been pared you can go ahead and slice them. I made them rather thin so they would cook easily. Just be sure none of the core gets included. No one wants to chew on that or seeds! 

Place the apples inside your pie tin when they've been sliced. Make sure the whole bottom of the tin is covered so nothing burns. When you're satisfied with your apple placement go ahead and sprinkle them with a little cinnamon and sugar. You can make a fairly simple mixture by combining 1/2 cup of sugar with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. I always have a premixed container on hand. 

When your apples have been placed securely in the pie tin and sprinkled with the sugary mixture you are ready for the next step. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar twice. Once they have been sifted together combine them in a bowl and mix well until everything has been incorporated. 

Add the Crisco to the dry ingredients and mix well to be sure everything has combined. Then go ahead and add the milk to the mixture and mix well. The consistency should be lumpy, but moist. 

After the mixture is combined you can spread it over the apples in the pie tin. Be sure to cover all of the apples to avoid any accidental burning in the oven. 

Next step, the oven! Be sure to place your pie tin on a cookie sheet with a lip just in case any spilling happens during baking. The recipe says to cook for 25 minutes, but mine took more like 35 minutes. You can be sure it's done by sticking a tooth pick in it. If the apples aren't hard anymore then it's done cooking. After you take the pie out of the oven turn it upside down on a plate for display. It should come out of the tin fairly easily since we greased it earlier. 

Once it's out of the tin go ahead and sprinkle it with more of the cinnamon and sugar mixture. 

The "nest" is best served when it's warm and with either ice cream or whipped cream. 

I gave this recipe a 3 out of 5 on the yummy scale. 

It was a fairly easy recipe and besides the exclusion of the temperature for baking it, there weren't any misprints. The apple part was delicious. It reminded me of the middle of an apple pie. However, it lost yummy-ness in the topping (nest) area. It definitely needed some kind of spice to it. Also it was a strange consistency. Maybe if I baked it a little longer then the "nest" would be crunchier. But then you run the risk of having super mushy apples.

I would recommend giving this recipe a shot, but try giving it a bit of spice for an upgrade. 

Happy Baking!