There are many benefits of cooking and baking with seasonal ingredients, including added flavor and freshness to what it is you’re making. Hatch chiles are in season, so I decided to make an unusual dessert — Apple and Hatch Chile Crisp. Definitely different, and delicious.
If you’ve followed along on my website during the late summer and early fall, you’ll know that my husband and I go nuts over Hatch chiles. These peppers are only around for a short time here in the Southwest, so we buy a bunch, roast them, eat a lot, and freeze the rest for later in the year.
My sister knows how much we love these peppers, and she was telling me about a recipe she saw recently for an apple-cheddar and Hatch chile pie. I was intrigued! When I started to look around online, I saw bunches of apple-and-Hatch-chile pie recipes. Who knew?
I really wanted to try this combination for a dessert (before my husband roasted all the chiles), and decided to make Apple and Hatch Chile Crisp. I switched up an old favorite recipe of mine given to me by a family friend. It’s an amazing apple-cranberry crisp that I always serve at Thanksgiving.
This rich dessert is a fun treat, and in my opinion, there should be a rule in place to require serving vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt with this crisp! It’s sweet and savory with the right amount of crunch as a result of the pepitas I added to the topping.
You can taste the peppers in this treat but they’re not spicy (keep in mind that you could always get a “loose cannon” in a batch of Hatch chiles, bringing a bit of heat with it).
If you don’t have Hatch chiles in your stores, try another mild pepper – perhaps Anaheim? In full disclosure, I haven’t tired any other peppers for this Apple and Hatch Chile Crisp, but I imagine they would give you similar results.
Now that the nights are cooling a bit, this makes a great crossover dessert from summer to fall. I hope you like it!
If you like Hatch chiles, you’ll likely enjoy these recipes, too:
Eggs in Hatch Chile-Spiced Tomato Sauce
Roasted Hatch Chile and Corn Stacked Enchiladas
Roasted Hatch Chile and Corn Chowder
Serves 8
This seasonal treat is a little out of the ordinary, and delicious! I've combined Hatch chiles with apples to deliver a tasty, warm and rich crisp.
Ingredients
- 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and diced
- 1/2 cup (about 2 large) Hatch chile peppers, seeds and pith removed, diced small
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons cold butter, cubed, plus extra for the baking dish
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons pepitas
- 8 tablespoons (1/4 cup) cold butter, cubed
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add all the filling ingredients and toss to combine. Spoon the mixture into the baking dish.
- Add the cubed butter and use your fingers to mix the ingredients together, softening the cubes of butter and tossing everything together until crumbly.
- Spoon the mixture over the filling, patting it down lightly with your hands.
- Bake for about 45 minutes, uncovered. Use a knife to test the apples. If they’re still a bit firm but the topping is browning, add aluminum foil to the top and continue to bake for 10-15 minutes more.
- Allow the crisp to sit for a few minutes before serving.
- Serve with your favorite vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt.
Notes
If you don't have Hatch chiles available, you could try a different type of mild pepper. Please note, however, that I have not made this dish with peppers other than Hatch chiles.
Nutrition
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