Easing Into Fall

Each September, our family spends a week in the Outer Banks.  The crowds have (mostly) dissipated,  but the weather is (mostly) warm enough to still enjoy the beach.  It's sort of a mental transition for me.  The Autumnal Equinox is about the same time, and in my mind we always leave during summer and come back to fall.  So this week is my "limbo" week hanging between the seasons.

But that means it's okay to start making fall things.  During this time of year, when we want something sweet, I whip up some baked apples.  Whip up?  Yes, this is fast and it's easy.  Here's how.

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The "filling" is just brown sugar, spices, and maybe dried fruit.  I mix up a fairly large batch of it and keep it in a Ziploc bag.  When needed, you hollow out some apples, put in the filling, top with some butter, and bake.  That's it!

So here's what's in the mix:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon each ginger and nutmeg
• up to 1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts and/or dried fruit (currants, raisins, pecans, walnuts and even dried bananas all work well)

Put it in the bag and mix well.  When you're ready to bake the apples:

• Use crisp, tart or semi-tart apples.  Wash the outside, then hollow out the core, leaving ~1/2 inch of apple on the bottom.  Yes, this is a bit tricky and takes a little practice.  The best tool I've found for this is a mellon-baller.
• Fill the hollow with your filling.  Pack it in tightly, then "plug" the hole with about 3/4 tablespoon butter.
• Put an inch of water in the bottom of a roasting pan, and put in the apples (plug side up).  Bake at 375˚F for about 45 minutes.  You want tender, but not mushy.

Do you know what the best part of keeping a ready bag for baked apples?  It's an excuse to have vanilla ice cream on hand!

Gettin' All Domestic: Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce

I've always been pretty obsessed with applesauce, and I have this weird thing where I like to eat it  as a side dish to spaghetti.  Like I said, it's weird.  But the when it comes to applesauce devotion, the Mister takes the cake in this house.  When he was little, his food allergies were way more numerous, so there wasn't a whole lot he could actually eat.  But, as luck would have it, one of his babysitters made her own pink, cinnamon applesauce and not only was it safe for mini-Mister to eat, it became his favorite treat.  D'awwww.  So since I first heard this story, I've been planning on giving a go at homemade applesauce.  That was 3 years ago.  Then this week rolls around with so many apples in the Crop Share, and Valerie is sitting across from me in the office telling me all about the homemade applesauce she makes all the time in the Fall.  Okay, no more excuses, the time has come!  So I got the run down from her and pledged to spend part of my day off making applesauce magic.

Did I make applesauce magic?  Oh yes I did!!  Now all I need to do is wake up the sleepy night-shift working Mister to see if it meets his high standards of approval.  And while he sleeps, I've been daydreaming about using some of this homemade applesauce in some Dairy, Egg & Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Zucchini Brownies tomorrow!  Stay tuned for that recipe...and for the Mister's review of the applesauce.

One added bonus of this recipe is that I tried to rely mostly on the natural sweetness of the apples, especially since I tossed some Honeycrisp in there, and then the only extra sweetener I added was local honey.

**Update: The Mister has awoken and gives this applesauce two thumbs up! :D **

Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce

Ingredients:

8 apples, peeled, cored and cubed (I used a mixture of Honeycrisp, Smokehouse, Gala and Jonagold apples)
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup local honey
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a Dutch oven add in cubed apples, water, honey and cinnamon.  Give it a few stirs to evenly coat everything and then cover the pot and place it into the oven at 350 for about an hour.  You'll want to check it a few times and stir it just to make sure the apples on the bottom aren't scorching.

After an hour has passed, checked the apples and if they're looking nice and saucy, remove from oven and give it a good whisk just to break up some of the larger chunks and make sure that the honey and cinnamon are well blended throughout.  Taste and adjust with additional honey or cinnamon if you need it (mine was perfectly sweet with no addition needed).

Serve warm or allow to cool before placing in an air tight jar for use over the next few days.  My batch made a whole quart plus about a half-cup extra.