Who Doesn’t Love a Simple and Comforting Slice of Something Delicious?
I’m fully aware that I’m very late to this particular game, but I’ve somehow managed to live this long without being aware of a dessert called a Slice. My good friend, Elizabeth Le Grice, mentioned that she had baked an Apple Slice. I asked for more info and she shared the recipe, which turned out to be a 3 or 4 layer dessert bar consisting of a bottom base, an apple filling, a streusel topping, and sometimes an icing layer.
I was very curious about the name and Elizabeth said it’s a tray bake and goes by the name of Apple Slice in Australia. I did some wandering around on Google in order to see what this is all about. It seems this is a classic Australian bakery item. Of course, there are many variations on this type of dessert, from many different cultures, but the Aussies have their classic version, and that’s the one my friend was baking.
I’ve now seen other recipes for Apple Slice, but it was the simplicity of this particular recipe that greatly interested me. The same mixture is used for both the base and the streusel, so only one bowl is needed. Very simple and easy.
I played around with the ingredients and added some whole wheat flour, along with the standard all purpose flour, hoping for added flavor. I also used brown sugar, rather than white sugar, for the same reason – more flavor. You simply cut butter into the dry ingredients and you’re done.
I love all things apple, but seeing as I had a bowl full of ripening pears sitting on my counter, I thought a pear version would be lovely. I’ve learned something the hard way from baking with pears: They can become very dulled down and flat in flavor when subjected to heat. I decided to counteract this by adding fresh cranberries. They ended up being perfect with the mild pears.
Once again, only one bowl was needed for mixing all the filling ingredients. I stirred orange zest, cinnamon, cardamom, and vanilla into my fruits along with sugar and flour. Easy as can be.
Two thirds of the butter/flour mixture is pressed into the bottom of a parchment lined 13 x 9 inches baking pan. A quick tip about lining a pan with parchment paper. I find it much easier to get the paper to fit easily into the pan if I wad it up and crumple it before hand. After pressing in the bottom layer, the fruit filling goes on top of it, and then the remaining base mix is crumbled on top. I sprinkled a little turbinado sugar on top because I really wanted some of the crunchiness it provides.
I mentioned earlier that some recipes have icing and decided that I wanted one here because of the cranberries. I wanted to make sure there was enough sweetness to balance out their tartness. But I didn’t want a solid layer of icing, only enough to drizzle. Powdered sugar, orange juice, and melted butter almost did the trick, but I love orange flavor with cranberries, so I added 1/4 teaspoon orange oil.
After the slice had cooled, I drizzled on the icing, let it sit for a few minutes, and then tasted it. I’m sure we’ve all eaten some kind of bar desserts – lemon bars, etc. But this is different. The base is more tender. It crumbles and melts in your mouth.
The filling is so good. I made this a few times in order to get it just right and what surprised us was that it took until the third time before I added enough cranberries. I really couldn’t imagine this taking a whole 12 ounce bag of cranberries, but it did. The tart berries are such a good match for the mild pears.
And I finally got the amount of icing to the just right stage. I had too much in the first couple of rounds. Now it really was perfect. So, here you have it. An easy, delicious, and comforting dessert or snack. A Slice is a welcome addition to my repertoire of bakes. It’s one of those recipes you can get a hankering for in the morning and then be able to sit down and enjoy it by early afternoon. Thank you, Elizabeth!
Pear and Cranberry Slice
10-12
servingsThe same batter is used for both the tender bottom crust and the top layer of streusel, so this is super easy. Then chopped pears and fresh cranberries are combined with sugar, flour, cinnamon, cardamom, orange zest, and vanilla for the filling. Bake and then drizzle on a simple icing. Yummmm!
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Ingredients
225 g (1 2/3 cups) all-purpose flour, divided
90 g (2/3 cup) whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon fine salt, divided
104 g (1/2 cup packed) light brown sugar
2 sticks (1 cup) cold salted butter, cut into half inch cubes
5 ripe Bartlett pears, peeled and cut into bite size chunks
340 g /12 oz. (3 cups) fresh cranberries, rinsed and drained
1.5 teaspoons packed orange zest
150 g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1.5 teaspoons ground cardamom
1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
1.5 tablespoons turbinado sugar
85 g (3/4 cup) powdered sugar
1.5 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon melted salted butter
1/4 teaspoon orange oil, optional, but very good
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350° with a rack in the center. Line a 13 x 9 baking dish or tin with parchment paper. I like to fully crumple the paper first, this way it fits into the dish easier. Whisk together 180g (1 1/3 cups) all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and light brown sugar in a medium size bowl. Add the butter, and using either your fingers or a pastry cutter, work in the butter until it is evenly distributed throughout the dry ingredients and resembles sand, but with a few bigger pieces scattered throughout. Pat 2/3 (about 400g) of this mixture into the lined pan and set the remaining third aside. It will be the streusel topping.
- Ini a large bowl, stir together the pears, cranberries, orange zest, granulated sugar, 45g (1/3 cup) flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, cinnamon, cardamom, and vanilla. Spoon the fruit, as evenly as possible, over the crust in the pan. Crumble the streusel over the fruit. Sprinkle the turbinado sugar on top of the streusel. Bake for 1 hour. Let cool on a rack. Using the parchment, lift the slice from the pan and peel off the sides of the parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, orange juice, melted butter, and orange oil. Drizzle on top of the cooled slice, cut into squares, serve, and Enjoy! Cover and store at room temperature for several days.