17 mins and 10 seconds

What to do when you have some simple basic ingredients lying around in your kitchen ? Whip-up a quick dessert that doesn’t need sophisticated techniques but that can satisfy almost anyone’s sweet tooth? Sometimes it’s nice to be simple and make something that looks warm and inviting, like this layered dessert full of different textures mainly composed of mascarpone, apples and speculoos. Three colours, textures and tastes were whipped up, chopped or broken down into crunchy pieces.

On the very bottom pieces of famous Belgian (and also Northern France) biscuits “Speculoos” (picture above). I also just found out via a comment posted by Linda that Speculoos are also typical in the Netherlands but go under the name "Speculaas"- thanks for the info Linda! In France they are very easy to find and are often served alongside a coffee (instead of a square of dark chocolate). Going in the middle layer are some warm diced apples then topped off with a cool swirl of mascarpone that has been incorporated into some whipped cream. The result is something between an apple-pie or crumble but in a glass with Belgian sweet & spicy tastes (from the Speculoos) and Italian smoothness (from the Mascarpone). A trip for your tastebuds ready in less then 20 minutes!

Recipe for Apple-Speculoos crunch in a glass:

Ingredients:

• Red or pink apples
• Speculoos biscuits
• Liquid cream
• Mascarpone
• Sugar
• Cinnamon & caramel (optional- for decoration)

How to make it:

1. First whip up the cream – 5 minutes (you can add sugar here too, but I personally did not)
2. Then add in the mascarpone and whip very briefly – 1 minute
3. Place in fridge and let it rest there until everything else is ready – 10 seconds
4. Dice the apples – 2 minutes
5. Heat a pan and place the apples with some sugar over heat until they become warm but still have a bit of crunch – 4 minutes (you can add butter, but I’ve gone with a “low fat” version, plus I try to avoid butter when possible, not only for health/weight reasons, but I also feel it tends to cover the real flavours of fruits. Also, you can add a dash of cinnamon here too)
6. Pull out your verrines/glasses – 30 seconds
7. Break the speculoos biscuits into small pieces – 1 minute
8. Place on the bottom of each verrine/glass a layer of broken speculoos – 30 seconds
9. Follow with a layer of the warm diced apples – 1 minute
10. Top off with a swirl of the mascarpone-whipped cream – 2 minutes
    

TOTAL TIME: 17 MINS AND 10 SECONDS.

P.S: you can decorate with sprinkled cinnamon and small cubes of soft caramel (that will take you an additional minute)