FoCo Joe: Appleburger
If only I could go back seven weeks in time, at the height of my sophomore summer at Dartmouth. I had just started following a relatively well-known food review website on Instagram, The Infatuation, and my life suddenly gained so much meaning. One of the first photos that came up on my Instagram home page was this gem — it was labeled as a breakfast #EEEEEATS, but seen by my eyes as an eventual FoCo creation. And with midterms this week, what better way to procrastinate than to spend 20 minutes in FoCo celebrating the best meal of the day — dessert!
I kid you not when I say this dessert took me 20 full minutes to prepare and eat (with friends, I swear). This is a dessert that I think is more fun to make than it is to eat, but is also so tasty that the hard labor and intense concentration it takes to build this “apple burger” is very much worth it.
And now, without further ado, I present my own version of this impressive work of art, the “apple burger.”
The top layer is Reese’s Pieces with caramel, the middle layer is granola and raspberry spread and the bottom layer is Cheerios with Nutella spread. These are all pretty different flavor combinations, but if some speak to you more than others, just use those. And, as always, there are so many ways to make this dessert your own, get creative!
Here’s what I did:
Step 1: Find a good-looking apple over by the corner where the salad items start and the fruit items end. For this dessert I chose a Granny Smith, but any apple that can stand up well on a plate will work.
Step 2: Turn the apple on its side and using a knife, cut the apple into slices to create the burger’s “layers.” This step is by far the biggest culinary challenge I’ve had in FoCo. The slices by no means have to be perfect — I cut my apple into four slices to make three layers.
Step 3: Get rid of the seeds in the core, and if necessary, cut out the undesirable chunks of apple from the slices.
Step 4: Using a big plate, take the sliced apple and head over to the spreads and cereals section. You will be spending time walking back and forth between the two for a while. Have patience during these steps!
Step 5: Start with the bottom “bun” of the apple burger and spread Nutella over as much of the flat surface as possible. All of the spreads serve as a glue to make sure that the burger stays in one piece. Just as a burger bun absorbs the juices of the burger, so do the spreads with all the “toppings.” If too much spread overflows, you can always “clean” the burger with a utensil to enhance its appearance.
Step 6: Sprinkle Cheerios onto the Nutella. One layer: check!
Step 7: Spread the roof of the bottom layer with Nutella again, to help the burger stay in one piece. By the roof of the bottom layer, I mean the underside of the next slice of the apple. Make sure all sides of each apple slice have a spread on them.
Step 8: Repeat the previous steps with your own flavor combos — get creative! I chose granola and raspberry spread for the middle layer, and Reese’s Pieces with caramel sauce (over to the left of the ice cream freezer) for the top layer. I promise this dessert is worth the work!
Step 9: Eat! The easiest way to do this is to eat the burger by layer, from top to bottom. This dessert may appear small, but there is so much going on you will definitely be full even after just two layers! I recommend sharing this dessert with friends, who will be impressed with both your dedication and with your culinary skills!
For those of us who are down on our luck after this long week of midterm exams and projects, take a bite out of this Apple Burger — you won’t be disappointed!