By Michael Kim
Adapted from a family recipe.
The moon quartered is an apple slice.
Calm and cinnamon, the autumn fields.
At the behest of the morning star,
deign to rise
doe-like eyes
on your knife’s deft work.
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I’m from rural Ohio, and this is how you can tell. The simple ingredients list gives it away.
You need an 11x7 baking dish to put all this in.
2 packages of crescent roll dough
2 apples, preferably of different varieties
1 cup of sugar
1 stick of butter, melted
½ cup each walnuts and pecans
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Leave the apples unpeeled and chop them evenly. Leave the crescent dough rolled up, and slice the logs into 6-8 circles. Put them in the baking dish with parchment paper sticking out over the edges. Mix the other ingredients together and pour over the top. I don’t mix the apple pieces with the sugar, butter, nuts and spices, but instead put them on top of everything. That way they stay a bit firm and roasty. I really like that textural contrast. Also, I think the scent emanating from them in that pure state, resting on a celestial divan of cheap pastry, is divine.
Either way, bake for about 40 minutes (check after 30) and then let it rest a bit on the counter. Sleeping spirits will emerge from their beds for a bite soon enough.