I love ginger and when I saw it was in an “affinity” group, in the Flavor Bible, with apples and hazelnuts I knew just what I wanted to make.

Recipe: serves 10-12

For the apples:

3 pounds (about 6 medium) Granny Smith apples
3 pounds Macintosh apples
All peeled, cored and cut into about 1 inch chunks.

Zest of 1 LEMON
3 tablespoons fresh LEMON JUICE
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 1/2 teaspoons CINNAMON
1/4 cup chopped candied ginger

Put the apples into a large bowl.

Mix the zest and the grated ginger into the lemon juice and pour over the apples. Combine the spices and sugar and mix them, thoroughly, all into the apples. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 425° while you make the topping.

For the topping:

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup light BROWN SUGAR
2 tablespoons WHITE SUGAR
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
11 tablespoons UNSLATED BUTTER cut into 1 tablespoon chunks
1/2 cup chopped candied ginger
1 cup hazelnuts (it’s OK to leave the skins on)

I used the food processor but you could easily do this by hand.

Pulse the dry ingredients, a few times, in the food processor, to mix thoroughly.

Add the butter and pulse about 6 more times until the butter is in pea size pieces.

Add hazelnuts and pulse about 6 more times until the hazelnuts are roughly chopped.
Mix in the candied ginger with 2 more pulses.

Put the apples into the bottom of a 4 quart baking dish. (I used a pyrex 10 x 14 one)

Spread the topping evenly over the apples.

Bake for about 50 minutes or until the topping is brown and the apples are bubbling beneath.

Serve warm or a room temperature.

And yes, of course it would be wonderful with a little freshly whipped cream!