The brown betty is a cousin of the crisp, crumble and cobbler, all homey fruit dishes baked with some variation of a sweetened, flour-based topping. Their names can be confusing because they are often are interchanged, but their toppings officially define them, with crisps and crumbles having a streusel-like crust (crisps typically with rolled oats and crumbles without) and cobblers studded with biscuit dough. Brown bettys are topped, and often layered, with sweetened bread crumbs or cracker crumbs, which makes them the simplest and most accessible of the bunch.
This brown betty involves briefly cooking fresh apples — skins left on for their rustic appeal and nutrition — in apple cider and an aromatic drizzle of maple syrup, vanilla extract and cinnamon. A handful of cranberries is tossed into the mix, along with just enough butter to add a modest layer of richness.
The slightly softened fruit is then sprinkled with a mixture of bread crumbs — made, conveniently, from basic whole-wheat sandwich bread — and enriched with walnuts, brown sugar and a bit of butter and cinnamon.
After 30 minutes in the oven, what hits you first is the enticing, warm fragrance that fills your kitchen. Then there is the visual appeal of the crisp, golden-brown crust with the apple-cranberry mixture bubbling beneath it.