Alsatian Apple Charlotte

This recipe took about two hours for us to make, including prep and cooking time.

Recipe:

2 pounds of granny smith apples

1 ¼ cup of sugar

½ teaspoon cinnamon

4 cups boiled milk

12 slices challah bread, crust removed

2 tablespoons unsalted melted butter

3 large eggs

½ pounds chopped almonds

Breadcrumbs

Instructions: (Makes 8 servings)

1. Peel and core the apples. Dice them and sprinkle ¼ cup of sugar and the cinnamon over them.
2. Pour boiling milk over the white bread, cover, and let soak a few minutes. Drain off the excess milk and add the melted butter, remaining sugar, yolks of eggs, chopped almonds, and the apples.
3. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the mixture.
4. Grease a 9inch bundt pan and sprinkle with fine breadcrumbs. Pour the mixture into the pan and bake in a preheated 375-degree oven for 1 hour or until done. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or vanilla sauce.

This old dessert recipe is a classic that is served warm in Jewish homes in France and southern Germany. It’s often made after Shabbat, with left-over challah bread. (Nathan, p. 321)

It was absolute chaos when we were making this dish! At the same time Carter was peeling the apples, Sarah was taking the crust off of the challah bread. The kitchen was a mess!

By the time Carter finished peeling the two pounds of apples, he swore he’d never peel another apple again. (Then Sarah reminded him that we were making Haroset next and that requires peeling apples, too. He was not happy.)

However, this dish turned out to be one of our favorites. It was also very well received by Carter’s roommates. Unfortunately, we forgot to buy vanilla ice cream to go with it so we had to settle for whipped cream. It was still delicious though.

-Carter & Sarah

(This recipe was adapted from page 321 of Joan Nathan's book "Jewish Cooking in America")