A delicious makeover for softening fruit and stale bread. Replace the ginger cream with ice cream or skyr if you are short on time (or cashews).
Begin the night before by covering a 3/4 cup of cashews in boiling water and leaving them to soak.
Brown Betty ingredients:
2T butter, plus more for greasing the pan
6 - 8 slices stale bread
4 past-their-prime apples or pears or any mixture of fruit, chopped - about 3 cups' worth
1/3 cup cider
2 T maple syrup
1 t cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1 T maple or brown sugar
Preheat oven to 375.
Butter an 8" x 8" baking pan.
Put whatever type of stale bread you have on hand into the food processer and whizz into crumbs; you want about 3 cups.
Mix the chopped fruit, cider, maple syrup and cinnamon together in a large bowl.
Pour 1/3 of the bread crumbs into your prepared pan.
Layer half of the fruit mix on top, then another third of the breadcrumbs.
Pour on the rest of the fruit, and add the last of the crumbs.
Dot the top with thin slices of butter, then sprinkle on the sugar and pecans.
Bake, tightly covered, for 45 minutes.
Remove the cover for another 5 minutes to crisp things up.
When you're ready to make the cashew cream, drain and rince the cashews, then tip into your blender.
Add 2T ginger syrup (or grate some fresh baby ginger and use 1T ginger juice and 1 T maple syrup) and just enough water to cover.
Blend until creamy.
Serve the Betty warm, with plenty of ginger cream.
