Apple Picking: Fall Indulgent Recipe Ideas
The season is here! Covid-19 has interrupted many of our normal activities, but one treasured fall activity is still possible: Apple-picking! My husband and I were fortunate to go on the very first day possible over Labor Day weekend last month. As it was so early in the New York harvest season, we were only able to pick McIntosh apples. Twenty-five pounds of McIntosh apples. Our immediate family took some, but what were we going to do with the rest?
Neither of us are prone to munching through pounds of raw apples, so of course I started researching recipes. My dreams of trying my hand at apple pie took a nose dive as I found that the structure of McIntosh apples by themselves are more appropriate for sauces. Applesauce sounded great to me, so that was my first step.
Applesauce
After some internet browsing, I came across a simple applesauce recipe by Garlic and Zest posted on Yummly. You can find it here.
Requiring only 4 ingredients, this recipe seemed simple and reasonably healthy. I will admit that I do tend to stretch the number of apples I fit in…I’ve managed 7-8 apples into this recipe without increasing the other ingredients! The only part I worry about is the ratio of apples to lime. The lime is there to stop the apples from turning brown when sitting exposed to the air. Of course the size of the apples can vary widely, so that can also influence the number fit in.
McIntosh apples can cook down fairly quickly, so the recipe time is spot on. Just a warning: if you start cooking the sauce while still peeling the remaining apples, then the first few apples will be cooked down before you get the rest of your apples in!
So applesauce was a success! We’ve enjoyed it on its own and as an accompanying side to other dishes. (It’s particularly great with pork chops!) But to avoid having to store jars of applesauce in our limited NYC cabinet space, what else can be done with these apples?
Applesauce Bread
After finding the applesauce recipe, I also quickly discovered applesauce bread. I honestly had never heard about applesauce bread. Maybe because my family usually concentrates on banana nut, cranberry orange, and pumpkin bread? Probably.
So I decided to give this applesauce bread a try. After some more internet research, I found a recipe by Louise on AllRecipes, but changed it according to my previous baking experience and some of the tips in the reviews. You can see the original recipe here.
My recipe is:
- 1.25 cups chunky applesauce
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 0.5 cup (or slightly less) vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs or ground flaxseed substitute
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 0.5 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 heaped teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 0.5 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 0.5 teaspoon ground allspice
- 0.25 teaspoon (or less) of salt
- 0.5 heaped cup of chopped walnuts
- Like the original recipe, this is baked for 60 minutes in a preheated 350-degree oven.
For the applesauce, I recommend using a slightly chunky version of the homemade applesauce, meaning you don’t cook all the apple pieces down completely. Leave some small chunks. This gives you a bit more apple in the bread. Or you can also mix some chunky applesauce with some very smooth store bought applesauce. Just make sure the store bought is unsweetened! Otherwise you would need to adjust the sugar in the bread recipe.
So we have applesauce and applesauce bread. What else can we make?
Butternut Squash Bisque
I have a favorite lavender cookbook called The Lavender Cookbook by Sharon Shipley. This book divides its many recipes (ranging the full spectrum from appetizers to main courses to desserts) into recommendations for each season. In its “Autumn” section, you can find a recipe for Butternut Squash Bisque that has quickly become a personal favorite and I recommend you check out. It’s perfect for cooler nights and a relaxing meal at home—or a dish for future entertaining. As always, I do add a tiny bit more of ground lavender, per my taste, but I tend to skip the Lavender Cider Cream that is supposed to be stirred in. I tend to find the cream addition slightly too rich and requiring some extra groceries that I don’t usually want to purchase or have on hand. I will say that topping the soup with chives is important and would recommend not skipping that if possible!
The soup contains plenty of autumn vegetables and of course also contains apples..which helped with my apple stash! And of course a slice of applesauce bread on the side goes incredibly well!
If you have been apple picking this season, or even just eyeing the many apples at the market, I hope these recipes give you some good ideas. Have you tried these dishes? Please let me know what you think of them. In the meantime, enjoy the fall season and see you in a future post!
