The Last of the Apples

Using up the last our apples this week. Last year, you may remember, I baked lots and lots of apple treats which I shared here. This year we're not enjoying as many baked goods so we have to come up with other ways to enjoy our apples, and preserve them for the rest of the year.

We've put away many quarts of apple sauce

and have over a gallon of dried apples ready to be used in recipes or just snacked on

but I do have one super easy baked apple treat to share with you. I made this last year, and I made it again this past weekend when we had a bunch of family over for brunch. Both times it was a hit, and it's sooo easy! It can be served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, just just by themselves as a breakfast pastry.

Recipe: thinly slice ~6 apples, put them in a bowl with a cup of brown sugar and toss to cover the apples. Defrost a box of puff pastry and lay the sheets of pastry out on a baking sheet. You can divide the puff pastry into 2 or 3 sections. lay the apples in the middle of the pastry and bake at 375 degrees for ~20 minutes or until the pastry is puffed up and golden. Top with confectioners sugar.

Apple Picking

Last weekend Q and I went to the mountains for our annual apple picking trip. The friends we usually go with weren't available so we picked a lot less than usual. I think we brought home fourteen bushels last year and this year just six. Six bushels is still a lot mind you. It was hard to restrain ourselves to six bushels too, apples are so easy to pick and the orchard we went to had so many great varieties in season right now.

I have lots of apple plans for the next few weeks, but this year baking won't be the main focus since I've given up sugar. boohoo :( I have so many favorite sweet apple recipes I will only be able to make for other people.

I love knowing where my food came from and picking it myself too. It was really a wonderful weekend filled with friends and family, we love going up to the mountains.

Q totally got in on the apple action too, he ate soooo many!

luckily if my plans go accordingly he'll be able to enjoy these apples for the rest of the year!

A week

without posting. Bad blogger! I've had family in town from California and have been neglecting my blog. But now I have tons to blog about! We had a fantastic visit filled with tractors, walks, babies, toddlers, food and more tractors. OK, so there was only one tractor, but it was a very big deal to a certain toddler.

I tried not to neglect my apple duties while the family was in town so I made 3 apple dishes while they were here - Rhiannon's Sour Cream Apple Pie (which I actually made twice and it was devoured both times), a classic apple pie, and Tuesday's With Dorie's Cranberry Apple Crisp. How fitting that this weeks TWD was an apple dish! Of course I didn't get it posted on Tuesday... bad blogger. I also didn't get a picture of it after it came out of the oven because it was quickly taken over to my Grandfather's house where it was devoured by a very enthusiastic toddler. The same one that is obsessed with tractors, diggers, and apparently apple cranberry crisp. I did get a picture of the filling to the crisp because it was just so beautiful. sugar coated cranberries are gorgeous. It looks like sweet sparkly snow



I have to admit that I barely even tasted the crisp. The one bite I had was delicious but I left it for my grandfather. Everyone said it was good and I loved the combination of apple and cranberry. It was also a total breeze to put together and I made it in a deep dish pie pan instead of individual sizes. I'm wary of crumb toppings because I feel like they are either too buttery and gross or they aren't crumby at all. This was quick and easy and didn't have either common issue. I'll definitely make this one again, once I'm not so sick of apples.

Thanks to Em of The Repressed Pastry Chef for this weeks recipe! and as always, check out the rest of the amazing TWD bloggers

Latest and "Greatest"

The Fair has come and gone and we're back to "normal" around here. For a few days at least and then our California family comes for a much anticipated visit. We're spending this week sewing little projects, obsessing over baby carriers and trying to use up these damn apples. While I'm cooking with apples I've totally been neglecting Tuesday's With Dorie. Today is cherry brownie torte and I'm going to make it this afternoon - you can expect pictures tomorrow or maybe tonight if I'm really good.

I am on an apple cake kick right now. The apple cider pudding cake was the best so far in my opinion but I did make this fragrant apple cake with brown sugar glaze for a gathering this past friday



I made these apple pie bars yesterday and I am loving them so far. They're nice and crumbly and not too sweet and not too heavy. Yumm.


I made B's coworkers a simple and classic Apple Pie this week too but I have no pictures of that to share with you. I also made some muffins that I'll share with you a little bit later.

I've also been doing a bit of sewing and I'll share that with you tomorrow!

More Apples!

I've been cooking lots of yummy things this week. I'm feeling like my house is a mess and things are a bit hectic but I'm trying to roll with it and spend a lot of time on the floor with my son and in the kitchen keeping good meals on the table for all of us. Of course I'm also trying to use up these apples and so here are a few of the things I've made so far.



Grandma's Apple Pie (from the North Carolina Apple Growers Association)
5 to 6 cooking apples
3/4 cup of sugar
3 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3 tablespoons butter
dash of salt
double pie crust for a 9 inch deep dish pie

Peel and slice apples. Add lemon juice and toss. Sprinkle some of the sugar and cinnamon in bottom of crust. Add 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. put half of slices of apples in crust; add half the sguar, cinnamon, nutmeg and 1 tablespoon cornstarch. Add rest of ingredients, piling apples high. Dot with butter. Top with crust. Cut vents. Sprinkle sugar on top of crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.



Upside Down Southern Applie Pie (Elizabeth Deer Wake Forest, NC)
1/4 C butter, softened
2/3 cup pecan halves
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar, divided
pie crust for 9-inch double crust deep dish pie
6 medium apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced (romes are good but I used winesap and it was really nice
juice of 1 lemon, strained to remove seeds
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup chopped pecans

preheat oven to 450. spread butter in bottom of a 9-inch deep pie plate. Arrange pecan halves in pie plate rounded side down and gently press into butter. Sprinkle 2/3 Cup of brown sugar over pecans and press firmly onto sides and bottom. Place pie crust on top of pecan sugar mixture.

In a bowl, combine remaining brown sugar, lemon juice, flour, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and chopped pecans. Sprinkle mixture over apples and toss gently. Spoon apple filling into pie crust. Put top crust on. Press edges together, then flute and pinch to let steam escape. You may want to place the pie on a baking sheet, because the brown sugar may bubble over the side during cooking.

Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temp to 350 and bake an additional 30-40 minutes or until apples are soft and crust is golden brown. Cool 5 minutes. Flip on plate to serve upside down with vanilla ice cream.



Warm Apple Cobbler
I'm not even going to tell you this recipe because although I've made it before and enjoyed it quite a bit it has WAY too much butter in it and this time we made it, took a taste of it and threw it in the trash because it was disgusting. Maybe it would have helped if I'd doubled the amount of apples so the butter evened out or something but whoa - not cool. I love butter don't get me wrong, and most good things have lots of butter in them, but this totally crossed the line of being good and buttery and was just icky.


Apple Cider Pudding Cake

Apple Day 1

So here's the game plan:

I'm going to try to make as many apple recipes as I possibly can before my apples start to go bad. or as many as B's coworkers can stand. Once I've exhausted my baking supplies, bank account, taste buds, apple peeling muscles I will make Applesauce and Apple butter with the remaining apples and freeze, give away or figure out how to can.

Today I've made a few of my favorite apple recipes from years past and I've narrowed down my recipes from google reader and cookbooks to compile a long list of new recipes to try. I'll try to keep the blog updated on my apple efforts.

Here are the recipes from my google reader that I'd like to try out:


Fresh Apple Cake
Apple Cider Pudding Cake
Apple Dapple Cake
and yet another Apple Cake
Crockpot baked beans with apples
Volcanic Apples
Brown Sugar Apple Cheesecake
Vanilla Apple Crisp
Apple Pie Pizza
Spiced Streusel Apple Pie
Pumpkin Apple Muffins
Apple Crumble Bars
Candy Apple Pie
Crockpot Applesauce Chicken
Apple Spice Cookie Bars
Upside down Apple French Toast
Apple Pie Bars
Banana Apple Bread
Breakfast Apple Granola Crisp
Apple Cider Pie

Apple Picking...

We spent the weekend apple picking and came home with a bajillion apples (this is just a small portion above). I've been pouring over my cookbooks (and my google reader starred items) looking at apple recipes to make this week. I've made an enormously long grocery list of items I need, lemon, sugar, flour, butter and BREYER'S NATURAL VANILLA. Mmmmm. It's a good week to be in my house. Do you want to come over? Do you want me to bring you some pie? Send me your apple recipes!