The Battle Continues: Battle of the Grandmothers' Thanksgiving Desserts {Recipe: Grandma Betty's Apple Crisp; Includes Recipe for Vanilla Ice Cream}

Yesterday we posted Grandma Ruth's favorite Thanksgiving dessert, Frosty Pumpkin Pie. Today we are posting the kids' maternal grandmother's, Grandma Betty's, favorite dessert, Apple Crisp. We can already tell you that the dessert battle is going to end in a tie, because who is really going to say one grandmother's dessert is better than the other's??!!?!

Grandma Betty's Apple Crisp

This is the Apple Crisp recipe from The New York Times Cook Book by Craig Claiborne printed in 1961. Grandma Betty wasn't much of a sweet eater. This is one of the few desserts I remember her making. 

6 tart apples*
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3/4 cup sifted flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup chopped nut meats**
Whipped cream or ice cream

    1. Preheat oven to moderate (350°F). 
    2 Peel, core and slice apples into a bowl. Add on-half cup sugar, the spices and lemon juice.*** Mix lightly and pour into a buttered one-and-one-half-quart casserole. 
    3. Blend the remaining sugar, flour, salt and butter to a crumbly consistency. Add the nuts and sprinkle over the apple mixture. Bake forty-five minutes, or until the apples are tender and the crust is nicely browned. Serve with whipped cream or ice-cream. 

*Grandma Betty always used Granny Smith apples. 
**She also always used walnuts grown at her parents' farm in Oregon. We have to leave out the nuts due to nut allergies in the family. 
***I alter this part a bit when I make it. I sprinkle the apples with the 2 teaspoons lemon juice right away, this will help prevent them from turning brown. Also, I mix the sugar and spices in a small bowl, then add them to the apples. This insures even distribution of the spices. 

Lili and I discovered in the back of the book my mother, Lili's grandmother,  had faintly hand written a recipe for vanilla ice cream. Here is the recipe:

Grandma Betty's Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

Scald 1 quart light cream
Add 1 cup sugar
Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Freeze in usual way* and let ice cream ripen for awhile.

*The "usual way" we made ice cream when she wrote this was to use a manual ice cream maker. Every one pitched in to crank the ice cream. Once we all thought ice cream was done, my dad, Grandpa George, would come and start cranking is like crazy, proving that it was not quite done yet. 

Happy Thanksgiving!