Apple Brown Betty

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 inch baking dish or a 1 1/2-quart casserole (preferably with a lid) with 1 tablespoon butter.

Melt remaining 5 tablespoon butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add bread crumbs and toss to coat. Spread about 1/3 of the crumb mixture in the baking dish.

Combine apples, sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice and rind (if needed) in a medium bowl. In the baking dish, fan out half the apple mixture over crumbs. Add another layer of crumbs, a layer of apples, and a final layer of crumbs.

Drizzle 1 cup hot water evenly over crumbs. Cover baking dish with lid or foil and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake 20 minutes more. Serve topped with heavy cream.

THE GRUNT, THE SLUMP, AND THE BETTY: Now, pay attention because we're only going to say this once: A betty is the same thing as a crisp. A cobbler--sometimes known as a bird's-nest pudding in New England--is similar, but has a crust on top. A grunt is an old Colonial dish of berries covered with dough and steamed. Sometimes the names grunt and slump are used interchangeably, but a slump is often made with apples, with bits of dough baked on top. Where did these names come from? No one really knows.