A few weeks ago at work I held an event where I cooked a dozen gross looking recipes from the 1930s and people tasted them to see if they were better than they sounded/get an idea of what they were eating at the time. One of the cookbooks I used was from the General Foods company, now Kraft-Heinz, who made Grape-Nuts. The book had a number of recipes that use them, and for that event I made Grape-Nuts Stuffed Eggplant (has ham, and I hate eggplant and ham, so, ick) and Grape-Nuts Raisin Pie (decent!).

I still have most of a box of Grape-Nuts left, so when I wanted to have our middle school volunteers cook something probably tasty to celebrate their last day volunteering with us, I went with Grape-Nuts Brown Betty, which was a hit both with the kids and the adults who got the leftovers.

This disappeared promptly.

Ingredients:

Grape-Nuts Brown Betty:

• 6 tablespoons butter, divided, room temperature
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, tightly packed
• 1/2 cup sifted cake flour
• 1/4 teaspoon
• 1/2 cup Grape-Nuts
• 3 large apples, pared and thinly sliced (I had the middle schoolers use a mandolin, with the thick plates, and this time no one was horribly wounded)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Yankee Sauce:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• dash of salt
• 2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, beat 4 tablespoons of the butter until smooth. Add the brown sugar gradually and cream well.

It was this kid’s first time ever using a mixer!

Add the flour, sifted with the salt, and mix well, then stir in the Grape-Nuts. Set aside.

Stir together the apple slices, sugar, and cinnamon. Layer the apple slices in the pie dish, eating any extra if they are higher than the sides of the dish, and pouring any excess cinnamon sugar back over the apples in the pie dish. Cut the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter into small pieces and scatter across the tops of the apples.

Evenly sprinkle the flour mixture over the apples. Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes, then remove the foil and bake an additional 15 minutes, or until apples are tender.

When the Brown Betty is roughly half cooked, combine the brown sugar, cornstarch, and salt for the sauce in a saucepan. Add the water and whisk to combine. Add the butter and place over high heat and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring constantly, for 10 minutes. Add the vinegar, and cook until the vinegar smell has gone away. Remove from the heat and serve warm, over the warm Brown Betty.

The sauce is also recommended with spice puddings, and with an optional 1/2 cup raisins cooked in it. That didn’t appeal to the middle school students, or me, at least not on the Brown Betty!

Grape-Nuts Brown Betty

Adapted from the 1932 General Foods Cookbook.

Grape-Nuts Brown Betty:

• 6 tablespoons butter, divided, room temperature
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, tightly packed
• 1/2 cup sifted cake flour
• 1/4 teaspoon
• 1/2 cup Grape-Nuts
• 3 large apples, pared and thinly sliced (I had the middle schoolers use a mandolin, with the thick plates, and this time no one was horribly wounded)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Yankee Sauce:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• dash of salt
• 2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, beat 4 tablespoons of the butter until smooth. Add the brown sugar gradually and cream well. Add the flour, sifted with the salt, and mix well, then stir in the Grape-Nuts. Set aside.

Stir together the apple slices, sugar, and cinnamon. Layer the apple slices in the pie dish, eating any extra if they are higher than the sides of the dish, and pouring any excess cinnamon sugar back over the apples in the pie dish. Cut the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter into small pieces and scatter across the tops of the apples.

Evenly sprinkle the flour mixture over the apples. Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes, then remove the foil and bake an additional 15 minutes, or until apples are tender.

When the Brown Betty is roughly half cooked, combine the brown sugar, cornstarch, and salt for the sauce in a saucepan. Add the water and whisk to combine. Add the butter and place over high heat and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring constantly, for 10 minutes. Add the vinegar, and cook until the vinegar smell has gone away. Remove from the heat and serve warm, over the warm Brown Betty.