Here are a bunch of homemade apple recipes to help you make delicious treats like pies, snacks and applesauce while using all of those extra apples!
18 Of The BEST EVER Homemade Apple Recipes!
I’ve always dreamed of having an apple tree in my backyard. You know the old saying, “Be careful what you wish for?” Now that I actually have my own apple tree, I stand in my yard watching the apples piling up around me thinking, “Oh no — What do I do with this mess now?”
If I could make gasoline out of apples, I could retire, but since that is not an option and my frugal mind will not allow me to waste one apple, I have had to come up with some homemade recipes for yummier “apple disposal” methods.
If you find that you have a few dozen more apples than you know what to do with, these homemade apple recipes from Dining On A Dime Volume 1 will help settle your frugal dilemma.
Tips:
- When you have a partially eaten apple, save the good part and chop into pieces for this easy apple recipe: Place in a microwave safe dish. Blend together 1 tsp. each brown sugar, flour, oatmeal and margarine and a dash of cinnamon. Top the apple with the topping and microwave until tender.
- Core and slice apples very thin. Dehydrate and use in granolas, eat alone or soften in warm water to use in recipes.
- Slice apples and use in pancakes or waffles and other homemade apple recipes.
- To freeze apples: Peel, slice and core and then store in 2 cups portions in freezer bags.
- Use soft apples in cooking.
- Cut into small pieces and add to salads with a fruit based dressing.
Here is my best apple pie recipe and as a bonus I will give you a recipe for French apple pie. You use the French apple pie when you have only 1 crust for the bottom and need something to top it with. It is a cross between a pie and apple crisp.
PrintGrandma’s Easy Apple Pie Recipe
Ingredients
6–7 cups of medium apples, cored, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 Tbsp. flour
2 Tbsp. butter
Instructions
- Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl except the butter.
- Microwave this filling mixture 2-3 minutes.
- Pour into the pie crust.
- Dot with chunks of the butter.
- Top with the other crust.
- Cut steam slits in the top crust.
- Sprinkle the top with sugar.
- Bake at 450° for 15 minutes.
- Then turn down to 350° and bake for 35-45 minutes, until apples are tender and juices are bubbling nicely out of the steam slits.
Easy French Apple Pie Topping
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
Instructions
- Mix ingredients in a small bowl until crumble-like.
- Sprinkle over the top of the apples.
- Bake as usual.
Easy Homemade Applesauce Recipe
This homemade applesauce recipe is a delightful and kid-friendly way to make use of those surplus apples you have lying around. Whether you’ve stumbled upon a great deal on apples or have been blessed with an abundance from your own tree, this recipe is perfect for you.
Ingredients
4 apples – peeled, cored and chopped
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of salt
Instructions
- In a saucepan, combine the apples, water, sugar, and cinnamon.
- Cover and cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, or until apples are soft.
- Allow to cool.
- Then mash with a fork, potato masher or stick blender.
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Easy Apple Crisp Recipe
This easy apple crisp recipe is super easy to make and tastes amazing! This is my great grandma’s apple crisp recipe and it’s always a hit! It’s also a very cheap way to have a delicious dessert and is perfect for using leftover apples. Throw a little ice cream on top and get the perfect apple pie a la mode taste with just a fraction of the work! You can find this recipe in volume 1 of our Dining On A Dime Cookbook.
- Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
6 apples, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. cinnamon and/or nutmeg
1/2 cup water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Arrange apples in well-greased baking dish.
- Blend all remaining ingredients except water.
- Spread evenly over the top of the apples.
- Pour water over the topping.
- Bake 45 minutes until apples are tender and top is crisp.
Notes
- For a Peach Crisp Recipe, use peaches in place of apples. (If you use peaches, this is basically a peach cobbler recipe.)
- You can also try using 3 cups of blueberries in place of the apples for a Blueberry Crisp or Cobbler.
Homemade Apple Butter Recipe
Indulge in the irresistible flavors of fall with this homemade apple butter recipe. Bursting with the natural sweetness of apples and enhanced by a medley of warm spices, this delectable spread is the perfect addition to your breakfast toast, biscuits, or even as a filling for pastries. Made with love and care, this apple butter recipe will fill your kitchen with a delightful aroma and your taste buds with pure delight.
- Yield: 2 pints
Ingredients
9 to 10 apples, cored, peeled and chopped
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. cloves
1/8 tsp. salt
Instructions
- Place everything into a crockpot.
- Stir, cover and cook on high 1 hour.
- Cook on low for 9-11 hours or until thick and dark brown. Stir occasionally.
- Uncover and cook on low 1 hour longer.
- Stir with a whisk until smooth. Refrigerate or Freeze.
Easy Fried Apples Recipe
This easy fried apples recipe makes a sweet and tasty treat with fresh apples! It’s a perfect side dish for any meal that everyone loves!
- Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
3 Tbsp. butter or margarine
4 large apples, cored and sliced (tart works best)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Instructions
- Cut apples into 1/4 inch slices.
- Heat butter in a large skillet.
- Put the apples, brown sugar, and cinnamon in the skillet.
- Stir and cover.
- Over medium-low heat, cook the apple slices 7-10 minutes or until they begin to soften and the syrup thickens.
- Serve coated with excess syrup on top.
Easy Applesauce Cake Recipe
Indulge in the comforting flavors of our delightful Applesauce Cake. This moist and tender dessert combines the natural sweetness of applesauce with warm spices like cinnamon and cloves. Perfect for any occasion, this easy-to-make cake offers a homestyle treat that’s sure to please.
- Yield: Makes 1 loaf
Ingredients
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups applesauce
1 tsp. baking soda in 2 Tbsp. hot water
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup nuts (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Cream together the shortening and sugar until fluffy.
- Add eggs, salt, cinnamon and cloves. Mix well.
- Add flour and applesauce alternately.
- Dissolve baking soda in hot water.
- Pour into the shortening mixture. Stir.
- Fold in raisins and nuts.
- Bake in a well greased loaf pan for 1 hour.
- If desired, frost with Buttercream Frosting.
Notes
- Instead of the Buttercream Frosting, you could enjoy a slice with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Baked Apples
apples, cored
raisins (optional)
1 tsp. margarine
dash of cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
1 Tbsp. honey or brown sugar
(These ingredient amounts are per apple.)
For each person, use 1 apple. Fill the center of the apple with all the ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees until tender or put in a Dutch oven on top of stove and simmer on very low until tender.
Apple Snack
2 quarts apples, peeled, cored and halved
Coarsely grate apples. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 225 degrees until dry. Remove from cookie sheet and break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.
For a good excuse to give yourself a break, make a cup of tea or coffee, put up your feet and enjoy one of these yummy muffins from this easy applesauce muffins recipe. As an added bonus, your family will love the smell when they walk in the door!
Applesauce Muffins Recipe
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 egg
1 1/2 cups applesauce
1/4 cup margarine, melted
1/2 cup chopped apple (optional)
Stir by hand until mixed. Don’t over mix. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.
Topping
While baking the applesauce muffins, combine:
3 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 nutmeg
1/4 margarine, melted
Melt 1/4 cup margarine, While hot, dip the muffins in margarine and then in the sugar mix.
*You can add some blueberries or cranberries to these muffins to kick them up a notch.
Caramel apples like the ones in this caramel apples recipe sell for $6-$8 EACH on the home shopping channel. They look wonderful but they can be made fresher at home and for around .50-$1.00 each instead.
Homemade Caramel Apples Recipe
1 package caramels
2 Tbsp. water
powdered sugar
6 apples (Most people use Granny Smith Apples but they are too tart for me so I use Gala Apples.)
Stick a popsicle stick, handle end of spoon or a twig (washed, dried and wrapped in foil) in the end of the apple.
Sprinkle some powdered sugar on waxed paper to set the caramel apples on after they are dipped so they don’t stick.
Dip the apples in caramel and then roll in:
- Crushed candy bar pieces
- M&M’s
- Mini chocolate chips
- Flavored chips: peanut butter, white chocolate, dark chocolate, cherry, butterscotch
- Nuts and then drizzle with melted chocolate of your choice
- Crushed chocolate-covered toffee squares
- Crushed milk chocolate-covered toffee coated almonds
This homemade apple turnover recipe is so easy and delicious that you’ll be tempted to try to make it with lots of other fruits! This recipe is a great way to use apples or other summer leftovers!
Easy Homemade Apple Turnover Recipe
1 can of apple pie filling*
1 tsp. of apple pie spice (or 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg and cloves)*
1 can of refrigerator biscuits
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) margarine, melted
1/2 cup sugar with 1-2 tsp. cinnamon (combined)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add the apple pie spice to the fruit filling. Using a knife, slice apple slices in the can into small chunks. (I add the spices into the can and press the apples against the can with the knife to cut them to avoid dirtying a bowl.)
Flatten the biscuits with a rolling pin or your hand into 4″ circles. Add 1 slightly rounded Tbsp. of pie filling into the center of each biscuit. Wet edges of biscuit with milk. Fold in half and seal well. Prick tops with fork. Dip in melted butter and then into sugar and cinnamon mix. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake 10 minutes or until brown.
* When using the other flavored fillings, you can leave out the apple pie spices. You can add other spices from your favorite pie recipe if you prefer, like a pinch of cinnamon to the peach or almond flavoring for the cherry pie. You don’t have to add anything if you don’t want.
Variation: Add raisins to the pie filling and/or serve with cheddar cheese.
8 More Recipes Using Apples You Will Love!
10 Tips for Using Apples
Homemade Apple Pie Filling
Apple Cinnamon Dumplings
Sausage Apple Casserole
Quick Apple Crisp
Apple Pork Chops
Apple Oatmeal Bars
Apple Peanut Salad
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and dont forget, if you have tooooooo many zucchini’s, you can substitute apples for the zucchini’s!…
also, would like to share you can make “mock pineapple” using the zucchini’s too… probably using pineapple juice… just a thought
take cores, skins of apples and put it with water cinnamon add a bit of water or apple juice or wine cook it in a slow cooker then strain off the juice and add it when you cook a ham. The gunk left can be composted.
makes a great flavour in the ham if it is frozen just put it in the pan frozen and it will melt.
I love all the apple ideas since I love apples in the Fall.
Can you use this recipe for homemade applesauce in the recipe from your cookbook called “Applesauce Candy?”
Yes you can. The applesauce in this recipe is just like regular applesauce and can be used any time anything calls for applesauce.
Thanks Jill. Yesterday I was looking through your cookbook and found the Applesauce Candy recipe and thought how yummy it sounded, so I pulled all the ingredients out of the cupboard, only to find that a jar of applesauce I just bought was MOLDY!!! The jar said it was good until December 2011, so it shouldn’t have been moldy. As a result, I couldn’t make the candy. Now with this applesauce recipe I can. Hurray.
So glad I could help. When people ask what kind of things are in the book one thing I never think to mention is we have so many recipes for everyday things you can run out of which can save them a trip to the grocery store. When we say people always save with our book we forget to mention that part so thanks for helping me to remember that. You know what they say the mind is the first to go. Although I think I beg to differ with them because there are many other parts of my body which is much worse for wear then my mind. HA!HA!
I’m so glad I planted my apple tree 4 years ago. I bought it at the local grocery store when they went on sale from $16 to $8, and I’ve made several pints of apple butter, fruit leather (like fruit rollups), fried apples and cabbage with kabasi, pies, apple crisp and apple carot salad. If you have a small property a dwarf tree will give you 2-3 bushels, and you won’t need a latter to pick them.
Here’s my Apple Carrot Salad recipe:
Mix
1/4 c lemmon or lime juice
3 tbs organge juice (or 1 tbs from frozen concentrate and 2 of water)
1 tbs honey (or to taste)
Grate 4 apples right into the dressings so it won’t brown, then grateequal part carrots. Raisins or cranbery raisins are also good in this! You can also add equial part grated cabage if you want to stretch the recipe a bit.
Makes a great “Winter Salad”.
Blessings,
QH
How do you make fruit roll ups?
I just make a fruit puree and spread it really thin on the plastic sheet that comes with my dehydrator. You can do them in the oven too but have not done them in there before. Here is a recipe that tells you how to do that. We call it strawberry (or fruit) leather. https://www.livingonadime.com/easy-strawberry-recipes/
I have been receiving your mail for some time now and I usually just skimmed through it and that was that. Today for no reason at all, as I am extremely busy, not as if I had nothing to do, I decided to read through. I was amazed! How much wisdom and good advice, humor and useful information. I really must appologize for having practically ignored your newsletter for so long. I’ll be looking forward to your next one and already going through the apples I have to make sure I don’t lose any.. Thank you and God bless you!
Fantastic newsletter and thanks for all the great recipes
You have a couple of ideas here with apples that I never thought of.
If I could add one, take your juicer and make apple juice also. Tastes almost like cider.
Jill, I made the applesauce recipe and then I made the Applesauce Candy recipe from your cookbook and it came out great. I used Island Pineapple jello in the candy recipe and it is so good. I think I want to make orange or grape the next time. Your recipes are fantastic. Thanks.
Hi Jill and Tawra,
I also have apple and pear trees in my yard and I try not to waste any so what I do is give some to friends and neigbors who don’t have any “fruit bearing” trees. One of my favorite is my grandmothers receipe for apple dumplings,and I also make pear perserves which is really good. If the old saying “an apple a day keeps the dr away” then we ought to be pretty healthy!
I could not get my grand daughter to eat a pear untill I made a salad out of lettuce, cottage cheese and pears. I let it set in the fridge for about an hour and then she wanted to taste it and guess what? every time she sees me she wants me to make her a pear salad! thanks for all your great advise and cooking tips. I enjoy them.
What lovely recipes.Thank you Tawra and everybody else.. Susan, the pear salad sounds dreadfully healthy, but delicious. Do you slice, chop or grate the pears?
Hi! I don’t peel apples for applesauce especially green ones like Granny Smith. I just cut them up, put them in the pressure cooker for a few minutes and press through a sieve. I sweeten to taste. Red ones make for a brown applesauce but that works fine for baking.
I USE A LIGHT SALT WATER MIX TO PUT APPLES IN FOR FREEZZER OR DRYING. THEY WON’T TURN DARK. DRAIN AND THEY KEEP THEIR COLOR.I HAVE MADE APPLE CHIPS AND THEY STAY LIGHT.
I have been trying to make apple chips lately but I have failed everytime and they end up burnt. What do you do to make them?
I just slice the apples very thin and dehydrate them for a long time until they are crisp.
I would like to have apple butter with no sugar added. Could I make that plain or would I have to add artificial sweetner?
Cheryl you can leave the sugar out. If you used a sweeter apple you maybe could get by without anything at all. Just taste it after it is through and add what you need then. You might want to warm the applesauce a little to dissolve the sweetner if you decide to use it or even just let it set over night. You don’t even have to do that if you don’t mind feeling the sweetner granules.
There are so many different varieties of apples out there. I don’t know which ones to choose to cook with. What is a cook cooking apple to make something like an apple cake or apple crisp?
Linda, I usually buy Galas. They are good for either eating or baking.
Other all purpose apples are Empires, Golden Delicious.
Baking apples are Winesap, Cortland,Granny Smith, Jonathan.
Eating apples are McIntosh, Red Delicious
The main difference in a baking apple and eating apple is usually a baking apple is more tart and holds it shape better and an eating apple is sweet and turns mushy so you can really use them either way depending on what you want.
For example Cheryl said she didn’t want to add sugar to her applesauce so a Red Delicious or McIntosh might work for her since they are sweeter and turn mushier.
I personally use what I have on hand because I like my pies to to have very soft apples and to be very sweet so I have used Red Delicious many times which is not the norm. I like to mix my apples using some tart and sweet in the same pie. That also is why I like Galas because they seem to be the best of both worlds and are reasonably priced.
I know there are some die hards out there about what to use but I use what I get don’t worry about it to much.
I LOVE the apple butter recipe,, have been making it for a couple of years now. I always put it into the blender to puree it and one day I remembered I had the stick blender(duh”!!) SOOOOO much easier cant believe it took me 30 bathces before I used it and todays newsletter talks about using it-lol…I can and freeze the apple butter and get tons of compliments on it. thanks so much, Ive never tried the applesauce recipe, could I can and or feeze it as well?
Angie you can can and freeze applesauce. Sometimes freezing intensifies the spices so you might want to add them after you thaw it out or use less.
Applesauce and apple butter are 2 of the easiest things to can due to their acid content! I get most of my canning instructions from pickyourown.org, which is a great canning/food preserving resource!
When making applesause, add red hot cinnamon candies instead of sugar and cinnamon. Makes for a delicious change, and kids love it.
Several years ago when I lived in the Pacific NW, a friend shared a recipe with me for apple pie filling. You peel, slice and place apples in sterilized quart size canning jars. Then you cook a filling and pour it into the jars. Seal, and process in a water bath. In addition to the apple butter, and stewed apples, we had 8 or 9 quarts of pie filling to use all winter long! Let me know if you would like the recipe, I will share it with you and your readers.
Cynthia
Could you please share your recipe for the canned Apple Pie filling. I would love to put up some apples this way for pies during the winter.
Hello, I made the apple butter recipe last week!!! sooo good!!! It wasn’t really that hard to make either, I had some apples that were going bad anyways so I thought i’d give it a try. I love apple butter, just don’t buy it very often, if i can catch some good deals on apples thought about making another batch and cutting down on sugar. I am not much of a cook at all, in fact my motto is “Born to shop, forced to cook!!”…lol… I hate to cook but i have forced myself every week to try something new, i made the apple butter, and this past week made my kids the home made soft pretzels, they were yummy too!! lol… thanks for the great articles, i have been a long time reader, not so often poster…lol
While looking for holiday recipes I came across two apple recipes that I want to share. The first is “Applesauce Cream” and the ingredients are: 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 3/4 teaspoon grated lemon rind, 3 tablespoons sugar (or to taste), 1-1/2 cups applesauce, 1 cup heavy cream, whipped, shaved semisweet chocolate. Blend the first 4 ingredients. Fold in whipped cream. Chill. Spoon into sherbet glasses. Garnish with shaved chocolate. The second recipe is called “Banana Stuffed Baked Apples” and the ingredients are: 6 large apples, 2 small bananas, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 5 tablespoons sugar (or to taste), pinch of salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, heavy cream, whipped, (optional), 1 cup fresh orange juice. Wash, pare, and core apples. Place in baking dish. Peel bananas, dice, and mix with lemon juice. Spoon into cavities of apples. Combine next 3 ingredients and sprinkle over apples. Pour orange juice over all. Cover and bake at 375 degrees for 55 minutes or until apples are tender, basting with the orange juice 4 times throughout baking. Serve warm or cold. Top with whipped cream.
You don’t see a whole lot of apple recipes which call for some kind of cream in them but if you think about people all the time eat apple pie and ice cream which would be the same flavors together. These sound good and different.
Jill, I found these recipes in a cookbook written by a woman that was a home economist that traveled the world looking for recipes that used spices and other ingredients that were unique.
Jill: I just became a “member” of your website and have just read your emails and comments about apples. It reminds me that where I grew up there was an apple orchard next to our house. The owner drove my schoolbus (I am now in my late 40s and he has been gone for many years) and our dog(s) kept rabbits/rodents out of his orchard. Henry was a great neighbor and each year brought a bushel of apples for the bus route home from school. This is just blather but I did have a great neighbor/bus driver and am pleased this Sunday morning to have these memories.
I always find it interesting the things which stir up good memories for us. I get tickled too that often it has some food connected to it. : ) Good neighbors are so special.
I just put a slow cooker pot of cut up pears and I want to give them to an elderly couple. Just as a gift but I am not sure what spices to put in it.
7leters of pears and one drinking box of unsweetened pineapple juice is what is in it for now. If possible I do not want to add sugar as they are diabetic.
Could I add some apples to it do you think just to make it different?
I would normally just add cinnamon but want to know if other spices would go better.
Any help would be appreciated.
Grandma, you can use the same spices as you do with apples plus ginger is really good with pears and you can combine pears and apples. You can make pear chutneys and cranberry/pear chutney. Also I haven’t tried if but have heard mint flavor and pears are good together too. I don’t have the recipes at my finger tips and if you can’t find any let me know and I will see what I can do. Tawra and Mike are gone for a couple of days and I am babysitting baby Jack so I’m not as quick on the draw as usual. I’m trying to get things done in between naps. You know how that is.
Grandma, I have made apple pear butter before. Just substituted half the apples for pears, same recipe otherwise. It was absolutely fantastic and made a really big hit as gifts! Good luck.
Thanks, just checked and I can now add some apples as the pears have cooked down.
A couple large cinnamon sticks an inch of ginger and they should be good to go.
They are really sweet so I won’t need to add any sugar. She uses splenda and he refuses to eat anything but sugar so now no two pots will have to be made.
Next time will try the mint. I love mint and am trying to get it to do well so I can use my own more frequently. Bears like mint as well. I keep it in the lot across the road so I don’t have much bear scat in the front yard around the crab apple tree.
thanks again.
Grandma I am cracking up as I write this. Bear scat is one of the few things I don’t have to worry about in my life. The most wild life I have had to deal with lately was a turtle crossing the road on my way to Tawras. To funny. I mean the way you said it. I know that the bears themselves aren’t funny. I would love to live in the “wilds” of Canada.
Jill within a 20 mile drive of our house we have cougars, timber wolves, coyotes, lynx, wolverines, moose, bear (they are closer) foxes (they play on the roads at night and are fun to watch.
We are also just a 20 min. hike from the trans Canada highway.
I love where we live and our children still like to come here to live in the wilds but they still leave for the city when the week is up.
We go out and pick blueberries some years and my husband always takes a gun with him. He says blueberries are not worth losing me to a bear attack. I do like that man.
We have areas about an acre in size covered with wild raspberry bushes and areas the same size with low bush blueberries and even a couple areas in the swampy ground full of cranberries.
wouldn’t change where we live for anything until the mines close and we have to move on to a new job for Don.
They are saying we will be here until 2019 if the price of gold stays at the level it is or goes higher. well over $1000. an ounce right now so jobs are safe for a while longer.
One spring we had a bear paw print in the snow on the back step that was the size of a dinner plate.
always interesting around here.
I was sold before but at the mention of berries I am even more sold. One of the best things I liked about Idaho was being able to go out and pick blackberries. I had never seen anything like in Kansas or Colorado and I just loved them. The first year we were there Tawra and picked about 10 gallon of them and the “natives” were laughing at us because we acted like we had never seen or eaten a berry before. Boy I do miss popping a fresh blackberry or raspberry from a bush and straight into my mouth. Yummmmmm!
funny story about blueberry picking.
we moved north when I was 16 and mom heard at work that it was blueberry season. Keep in mind that blueberries did not grow in southern ontario so we had no idea what to look for but mom said she was told to look for a field that looked like it was covered in dead small bushes.
We drove and after many false starts we found a field and picked blueberries. We had enough to fill 3 large kitchen sinks with them.
We also had no idea how to clean them so we pulled out the leaves and stems and were cutting the blossom end off of them.
A neighbour boy came over and asked what we were doing so we explained cutting the blossom end off. He laughed and said you don’t have to. This was after we had spent at least half an hour doing that fussy job.
Well we finally got them all into bags and jams and really enjoyed them but that first experience sure was a bit of a pain.
Oh yes we weren’t to sure whether to trust him or not since he was only 4 years old. But he did know what he was talking about.
We did some pretty silly things with our blackberries that year too. Boy you live and learn.
I love all the talk of apples and blueberries, etc.. In my neck of the woods, North Florida, it is peas and peanuts, that’s about it. I picked a row of my dad’s peas on Tuesday morning. Woke up in terrible pain Wed. I have FM, and any over exertion just makes it worse. then of course, there is the shelling the peas and cooking them. The batch for dinner last night were pretty good. These are late in the season peas. He also has watermelons, cantelopes, rutabegas, and i think some turnips. Our goal is to get farther out than the small town we live in. I am all for staying in Florida or maybe Georgia, but my husband wants to move to the Texas hill country. I saw a snake in my backyard a couple of weeks ago. Yikes! Also, the Florida brown bear is likely to come into town. There are sightings from time to time. they like to go through trasch cans.
Oh Rachel it has been so long since I have tasted a really fresh peanut. You guys make me drool sometimes.
Jill on the live and learn. I learned that it was much easier later on to let my two sons go and pick the berries while I held the gun to guard them. They didn’t have to bend so far.
pear butter turned out great. I added a few apples and pineapple juice and cinnamon and people really like it. I did not have to add any sugar to it at all.
I am trying more apple butter today and since we had a bottle of cranberry wine that was a bit to tart for our taste I added that to the apples instead of apple or pineapple juice.
Can’t wait to see how it will taste when it is done tomorrow since I just put it in the slow cooker.
Apples were .46 lb so I bought a bunch. We are not sit down and eat an apple but we do like the butters and sauce for breakfast or for cooking a ham in them.
I will also put some into jars instead of freezer bags and give them as gifts for Christmas. Not adding sugar at all makes them good for diabetics and since my friends are older a few of them are but they still like sweets so this is a nice change of pace.
I have been a member for awhile but have never tried any of the recipes then my husband saw the apple butter recipe and BEGGED me to make it! I made it and it was GREAT he said it tasted just like his Mom use to make! So I decide to also try the apple crisp since I love apple crisp and it too was great so now I am goin threw the reciepes and seeing what else I cam make!! Thank you
Well this is a very timely topic for me. I just went apple picking with my family this weekend. When we came home my mother made a homemade apple pie and homemade applesauce. I couldn’t believe it. The applesauce she made was fabulous. I wish we had more but we finished it with dinner that night. I’m not a big fan of apple pie but everyone else said the pie was also delicious. We will definitely add apple picking to our list of family activities.
Jill, Did you ever hear of “Old-Fashioned Apple Butter Stack Cake?” It is an Appalachian mountain recipe. It really has a nice historical tradition. Many Appalcahian women use this cake for their wedding cake. Loved ones bake a layer and then bring it to the wedding, so it can be added to the cake. Not everyone brings a layer, just the closest friends and family, and sometimes the “popularity” of the Bride is determined by the number of layers the cake ends up with. It is part of a pot-luck reception where all the guests bring their love and themslves to the wedding. The traditional recipe calls for dried apples, but apple butter can be used too. The recipe ingredients are 1 cup butter, 1 cup sugar. Cream until light. Stir in 1 cup molasses. Add 3 eggs, one at a time; beat each time. Mix together: 1 tsp baking soda to 1 tsp salt. Add to creamed mixture, alternating with 1 cup buttermilk; beat after each addition. Grease and flour 3 (8-inch) pans. Pour 1-1/2 cups batter in each pan. Refrigerate remaining batter for other layers. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until done. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pans. Wash pans, grease and flour pans again, and repeat for 3 more layers. 6 total layers. When cool spread each layer with apple butter as you stack cake, and then cover entire cake with apple butter.” This cake is also used in the Appalacians for other important family parties and get-togthers. Jill, I thought making the Apple Butter from your cookbook and then this cake would be so good, so I thought I’d share the recipe.
Hi Bea. I live in the Appalachian ‘foothills’ and my paternal grandparents were raised in a rural Appalachian area.
My Grandma makes Stack Cake…she has made the cake for as long as I can remember. She always makes one a couple of weeks before Christmas for herself and my Grandpa to eat and then one for our Christmas dinner. Stack Cake is to my Grandma at Christmas what fruitcake is to others. :)
I am so glad to see a recipe for the Stack Cake. I’ve never seen one before and my Grandma is a ‘pinch of this and dash of that’ cook. Lol! She has always used the apple butter between her cake layers.
I look forward to a piece of her Stack Cake every year at Christmas time. Growing up in a very poor family, the cake was a greatly anticipated treat for my Grandma and her siblings (13 of them) when they were children.
Now I can make a Stack Cake! Although mine probably won’t taste quite as good as my Grandmas. She still prefers to bake in her wood burning cookstove. While her electric stove sits unused except for the hottest parts of the summer. Lol!
Thanks for posting this recipe Bea! :) Where did you find it? Just curious…
FORGOT: 3-1/2 cups flour! Sorry.
what stick blender would you recommend? they run the gamut in terms of price, and the cheapest, yet most powerful, is what i’m looking for. thanks
Here is a nice apple recipe:
Johnny Appleseed Squares
5 medium apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1-1/2 cups biscuit baking mix
1/2 cup PLUS 2 tablespoons cold butter
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9 inch square baking pan. Combine apples with the condensed milk and cinnamon in a bowl. Measure 1 cup of the biscuit mix into another bowl and cut in 1/2 cup of the butter until it resembles large crumbs. Stir in the apple mixture and spoon the batter into the baking dish. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 1/2 cup biscuit mix with the sugar and cut in the remaining 2 tablespoons butter until crumbs form. Stir in the nuts. Sprinkle the nut mixture evenly over the apple batter and bake 50-60 minutes.
The most famous apple seed sower was John Chapman, or “Johnny Appleseed” as everyone came to know him. Born in Massachusetts in 1774. He left home at an early age to follow pioneers to new frontiers to teach the Bible and plant apple nurseries from seeds and cuttings. Died in 1854 in Indiana, but took care of his numerous apple trees until death.
Another good sounding recipe Bea. I hope grandma sees this to help her use some of her mounds of apples. Thanks
I too am a subscriber to the newsletter, but haven’t posted till now. All these apple tips and recipes are great! Don’t forget you can grate and freeze zucchini for later baking as well. I have an Apple/Zucchini Bread recipe that is delish, and I’ve used frozen shredded apples or zucchini in it many times. Just add an additional 1/3 cup per cup called for of the thawed & drained apple or zucchini.
I do have a recipe I wanted to share today to use the homemade applesauce in. I’ve made and gifted this bread out for the last couple of years for Christmas. And get raves for it. Enjoy!
Egyptian Orange Cake or Bread
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (margarine works fine)
1/2 cup applesauce
4 egg whites
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups whole wheat flour (or any ratio of wheat to white)
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 cups buttermilk (or combine 2 TBSP vinegar + enough milk to make 2 cups and let stand till bubbly and slightly thickened)
2 cups raisins
2 oranges, cut in chunks (including peel)
Preheat oven to 375. Spray 3 loaf pans or 4 9″ cake pans w/non-stick spray.
Cream sugar, butter, applesauce and egg whites. Add vanilla. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder and nutmeg. In a food processor finely grind the raisins and oranges. Slowly add buttermilk to the food processor.
Add orange mixture to the batter and mix thoroughly.
Divide between pans and bake for 45-50 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in pans for 5-10 minutes before turning out onto cooling racks. The cake is yummy with a chocolate glaze added on top while warm.
Love the crock pot apple butter recipe
There are few things less appetizing than a brown apple! IF you are going to save apples for pie or the recipe here for a crisp if you are not going to use immed put the cut up apples in a bowl of COLD water with a squeeze of LEMON juice to prevent browning. I have also heard of using orange or lime juice or even a few Vit C crystals.
You can drain and freeze them and if you use ZipLoc bags to save space make sure you squeeze ALL the air out.
Many many orchards have recipes for interesting things to make from these amazing fruits. I live in the heart of Apple Country in Upstate NY.
One thing too you don’t hear mentioned near as often to help apples keep from getting brown is a little salt in the water. I this works even better for me because I dehydrate a lot and the lemon juice leaves a slight residue on the apples even if I use only a little plus I sometimes don’t have lemon juice on hand but I always have salt. So for those of you who don’t have lemon or run out you can try salt. About 1/2 – 1 tsp. in a large mixing bowl of water. Check out here for more info on apples
Jill, I had heard of lemon of course but the salt is a new one on me. Thanks!
I also just read the other day that soaking sliced apples in ginger ale of lemon-lime soda for 10 minutes prevents the apples from turning brown. Apparently this method is commonly used for sending sliced apples in school lunches. It’s supposed to work well because the apples still taste like apples. I haven’t tried this yet but think I will.
Funny thing about this tip, though. I shared it with a co-worker who has children that brown-bag their school lunches. She ranted at me for 10 minutes about how that would take a healthy treat and turn it into a sugary snack that would make her kids hyper. Note to self: Keep mouth shut to avoid such rants. Lol!
Angie you are doing better then me – haven’t learned to keep my mouth shut yet but I am working on it. : ) I have to laugh too at the sugar making kids hyper. They have shown over and over that is doesn’t make kids hyper but it is one of those myths which will take decades to disappear. : )
The lemon lime drink makes sense because it probably would be like the acid in the lemon juice.
Ah Jill, you don’t need to learn to keep your mouth shut. You write common sense that most people appreciate. Some people just get so worked up about little things.
I couldn’t believe the lady got so upset at my suggestion about soaking the apples in ginger ale or lemon lime drink to prevent browning. I would hardly think the apples would really absorb sugar from the drink.
As a mom of a very ‘high energy’ 9 year old boy, I can say with all honesty that I have heard about sugar making kids hyper more times than I can count. My mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law are always telling me I need to cut sugar and artificial colors out of his diet and feed him a high protein diet. I know it’s a myth that sugar makes kids hyper but I’ve wasted enough breath trying to convince them. It’s exhausting…
Besides, my son is high energy but he’s not bad or obnoxious. So he talks a lot. It’s part of what makes him special. It gets on my in-laws nerves though.
Angie, Tawra has a houseful of little boys like that. I say those are the ones who are going to set the world on fire and do great things and make the world a better place because of all of their energy. :)
I love talking to kids with lots of energy.
yesterday I walked into a pay less shoe store and little boy in a buggy told me right off that his shoes were too little for him so his mommy was buying him a new pair. I said that mine were falling apart and too small so I needed new ones. He said that was a good idea. he was about 3. his mother was embarassed so I said to her. want to learn the family history ask the child.
At the grocery store a little guy was shouting no everytime his dad went to pick up anything he didn’t care what it was he just liked shouting no.
I was laughing at how well his dad handled it which was good but at one point he looked at me and I asked him if he liked cookies. he almost shouted No but switched it to looking at the fruit his dad was buying. his dad said thank you. met up with them again a bit later in the store and the little guy was still saying no but when he saw me all he did was frown.
Angie and Jill try telling a group leader or a teacher to let your son have a coke instead of koolaide or orange juice. both make him hyper to this day and coke he can drink with no problem.
you get accused of being a bad mom, a fool to think you know what is healthy and you should talk to a dietitian and they would make an appointment for me.
to this day I was right.
Although I have never commented before I could not resist today, I have three apple trees and usually have apples coming out of my ears! Apple butter, jelly, sauce and apple cake like the following are all favorites at my house…
5 apples, peeled and cored and diced
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9×13 inch pan. Cut the apples into 1 inch dice sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the sugar. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and remaining sugar until blended. Mix in the baking soda, oil, cinnamon and vanilla. Stir in the flour, just until incorporated. Fold in the apples and walnuts.
3. Pour batter into prepared pan (I use a bundt pan). Bake in the preheated oven for 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly. May be served warm or at room temperature. Great warm, but even better the next day…
At risk of sounding foolish, is there a way to easily core and peel apples without a fancy corer/peeler? I love these recipes, but I can’t core or peel an apple without wasting a large amount.
You can just cut into quarters and then cut out the core on each quarter and then slice.
Carin the peeler things really do make it nice but I use a potato peeler to peel my apples, kiwi and many other things. You need to have a good sharp one which they are hard to come by. I have an old cheapy one that I have used for years and even when I go to Tawra’s for like Christmas dinner and things I will take my silly peeler with me because it works so good. I’m not sure if this it the secret to it but my mom uses a peeler for years and then she gives it to me. It always works so good. I don’t know if it is because I am left handed and she is right so it some how sharpens it a certain way but it sure does work so nice.
Also you can buy just a hand corer which aren’t to much but I for years just used the potato peeler then would quarter them and slice out the core. I have a small little hand slicer (non electric) that I use to slice them but you could slice them by hand with a knife. It does take slightly longer but unless you have apples trees or bushels you really don’t need the corer/peeler.
Oh and with practice you learn not to waste as much.
I have often offered to trade peelers with my sister-in-law, because she is left-handed and I am right-handed. She only uses one side of the peeler and so do I! When we trade, we can use the unused side…
I like to leave the peels on…
I vote for lemon juice to keep my apples from turning brown. I like tart over sweet… Have you ever used vinegar when you don’t have lemons? I would think that would work well too.
Sheri my mom has given me her potato peeler for years too because I am left handed and she is right. I “cherish” my peeler because I don’t know what I would do if I had to ever use a new one. They never work for me. Some how the way my mom uses hers it seems to sharpen it for me. Never have heard of anyone else doing that until your post.
I have never used vinegar and not sure if it would work the same. I should try it on one or two pieces next time I dehydrate just to see what happens.
Here is my favorite apple recipe, and it is so easy!
Ingredients
■2 whole Granny Smith Apples
■2 cans (8 Oz. Cans) Crescent Rolls
■2 sticks Butter
■1-1/2 cup Sugar
■1 teaspoon Vanilla
■Cinnamon, To Taste
■1 can (12 Oz.) Mountain Dew Soda
Preparation Instructions
Peel and core apples. Cut each apple into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan.
Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour entire mixture over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve with ice cream, and spoon some of the sweet sauces from the pan over the top.
To Angie M. I think the Appalachian Mountains are so interesting. I was given a calendar last year from a friend and every month there are stories, pictures, and trivia, about the people and mountains. This month features corndolls. I got the recipe from the calendar. I think the cake sounds so interesting. I thought when I originally read the recipe that a woman that had members of her committee bring a layer for her wedding cake must have made her so happy. It is so much more meaningful than a store bought cake. There is the added ingredients of love and friendship. I’m glad you found the recipe here. That is wonderful.
This may sound dumb, but I was reading the pie filling recipe, and then how you freeze it after it cools in plastic bags. When you thaw it, and place in a pie crust, do you adjust the baking time because the filling is already pre-cooked? Never did this before, and wondered the specifics. Thanks…and I love your tips! I have used MANY of them!
Not dumb at all Elizabeth. I wondered the same thing the first time I used this recipe. You do adjust the time some and won’t take as long. My regular apple pie I bake at 425 degrees for 15 mins and then at 350 for about 45 mins.
With the filling I do 425 for 10 mins and 350 for 25-30 mins. I usually just watch it and as soon as the crust is a pretty brown and the the center of the pie is bubbling through my steam slits I know it is ready.
Thanks! I was anxious to try this!
Might anybody have a recipe for HORSERADISH JELLY? I have had it made with APPLE based JELLY and also one with some sort of red beets concoction–not sure if this was just a small amount to give some color (it did not taste like beets!) or if the actual beet was prepared in such a way that the horseradish flavor came thru.
The type of flavor I am looking for here is a slightly sweet zingy one where the horseradish stars but is tempered by the jelly ingredients. I tried mixing an apple jelly with horseradish but it was not the same. A tiny jar of the one we like is about $7 at the local “tourist stores”. And I have my own horseradish patch!
When reading back thru this topic I noticed a lot of people mentioning the local items that make their areas special—here in WAAAAY Upstate NY we have amazing apples; potatoes (if you have one of them giant bakers or a super crispy McD’s fry—chances are it got it’s start right here. We grow a lot of the “seed potatoes for the Western growers!) MAPLE TREES—need I say more???? A bit to the west of us we grow a huge percent of the worlds onions and cabbage—who knew! We also have very specialized growers of Heritage Hogs (Flying Pigs) Sheep cheese (Three Corner Field Farm) and CABOT cheese is one of the main users of local milk.
Kinda unlikely that any of us have actually tried some of these specials like FLying Pig (I know I can’t afford ’em!) But a gallon of maple syrup–while a small luxury—can go very far if carefully kept and doled out.
Try drizzling a ham with some apples tucked next to it with some REAL maple—AMAZING. Maple syrup on ice cream? Oh—and I have heard some use it on something called a “Pan Cake”. Hmmmm……
I have a simple apple recipe.Take4-5 Granny Smith apples, do not peal, cut in half and remove core. Slice in bite size slices. Add 2 full size, slices of Snickers candy bar. Add a small tub of cool whip. Stir together. The snickers compliment the tartness of the Granny Smith apples. Easy and good.
Sharon this does sound yummy. It probably tastes a lot like a caramel apple which has been dipped in chocolate and rolled in nuts. Always a winner. Of course in my book anything mixed with snickers has to be good it is one of my favorite candy bars.
I’m not real sure how they work but they are a type of electronic business card which attaches itself to e mails and such and gives others your name, address, telephone and all your info and they in turn can send it to others.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love apple butter and will make it now that I have a crock pot recipe. I love all these ideas and recipes.
Thanks for posting this list. Our family recently went apple picking and got carried away and came home with a whole bushel!
You know the apple peels and cores that you get from making applesauce and apple butter? Don’t throw them away! I was so excited to learn from an older friend that they can be used to make apple jelly, and the taste is quite outstanding. Pectin (the natural part of fruit that gels) is concentrated on the peels so it makes great jelly. Just cook down all of the peels and cores with six cups of water until soft, mash well with a potato masher, and strain to get 7 cups of juice (up to one cup of water can be added to get 7 cups). Then add your Sure-jell and sugar as usual, following the directions in the box. We used Cortland apples and the jelly turned out a beautiful pink color with lots of flavor. I was hoping to give some away as Christmas gifts, but I’m not sure our family will have any left by Christmas… :-)
Apples are great as stuffing in chicken and turkey. I found this out when we went camping and I didn’t have many seasonings to add flavor to the chicken, so I cut up an apple and an onion to stuff it, wrapped it in foil, and buried it in the coals from breakfast, covered it with dirt, and went hiking all day. It was tender and done, piping hot, and sooooo delicious. It’s just as good in the oven too.
Oh yum that does sound good Sandi.
Have home grown pears, what are some recipes and ways to use these besides pear preserves? Thank you
You can freeze and dehydrate your pears if you need to to use later but some recipes are pear chutney, or in place of applesauce for muffins or quick bread. I wasn’t sure if you were needing recipes for how to preserve them or just use the pears up.
Pretty much any apple pie filling recipe can be used as a Cobbler or a Grunt or a Slump–I have no idea WHY these are named like this but aren’t they fun to say? Just make the filling and pile into a greased (butter or shortening) pan or casserole dish and top with:
Crumbles as for cinnamon topped coffee cake (Flour Butter Sugar and cinnamon and ginger cut to crumbs)
Biscuit Dough -Just cut (or Pop!) your dough and place on top; brush with some melted butter and sprinkle with sugar or better cinnamon sugar and bake
Dumplings: Make dumpling dough (biscuit dough but with some sugar and spice and wetter please!) and drop on top. Top with sugar and cinnamon. The steam will cook them just like in soup!
A friend introduced me to eating a “Country Style” Apple Grunt with the dumpling type dough on top and then you serve a Lemon Sauce drizzled over: Lemon juice and some sugar to taste with a little water, bring to boil, turn off and add a few teaspoons of cornstarch dissolved in some cold water; add to lemon mix and gently cook til thickened but not too much.
Sounds like it would not “work” but it is amazing! Since I do it by eye I don’t have exact amounts. And it depends how sour your lemons are!
I just saw a Sour Cream Apple Pie featured in Martha Stewart and will be trying that this week–just got some gorgeous Honey Crisp apples today! IF you find these they are sometimes a few pennies more but oh so worth it! We are lucky they are grown around here now!
I love to make apple things but not so much making crusts–these dishes here can go together in a few minutes and bake while dinner is being eaten. Serve hot, warm or cold and no one would get mad if you happened to have some vanilla ice cream handy.
This is true for any type of pie. I make up my pumpkin pie recipe with out the crust all the time, you can do this with blueberry, pudding or custard pies all can be done with out the crust. Last year I mentioned if it was your first year doing Thanksgiving and were afraid of crusts just to make the pies with out the crust. Many people leave that part anyway and think of the calories you can save.
Jill, I was reading a cookbook last night and saw a recipe for Apple Pie that contains tea. Since it was unusual and you like tea, I thought I would share it with you. It was from an older cookbook, which I like.
Apple Pie
Pastry for 9-inch crust pie
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons strong tea
1 tablespoon lemon juice
4 cups (about 8-9 apples) peeled, sliced
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
Roll out 1/2 of the pastry for bottom crust.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Combine sugar, spices, salt, flour, tea, and lemon juice. Mix well. Alternate sliced apples and sugar mixture until pan is filled, heaping slightly in center. Dot with butter or margarine. Roll out top crust and cut slits for escaping steam. Place over apples. Trim top crust and press edges together with fork.
Bake 40-50 minutes or until apples are tender and crust is browned.
Serve warm with wedges of sharp cheese.
I did wonder what the tea added to the recipe. There must be some reason. Maybe added flavor?
Great minds think alike Bea. It was funny I was reading this and before I got to the bottom I was thinking “I wonder what the tea does for the recipe” and about the time I thought that I read your last line. Too funny. I can’t figure what the tea would do unless it would enhance the flavor. I am curious now.
Thanks Jill for the compliment. While I was reading the recipe last night I was intrigued by the addition of the tea. I also thought of you and thought you might like the recipe. It is different. The author of the book studied in Switzerland at the Institute Heubi in Lausanne so maybe that has something to do with it, and the cookbook is over 51 years old and has some other unusual recipes.
Jill, I’m making apple crisp but don’t want to peel the apples. Have you tried baking it that way? Do I need to make any adjustments to accommodate for the apple peels? Thanks.
I don’t usually do mine with the peels on but I know many pie bakers who leave their peels with no problem. You don’t need to make any adjustments at all just know the peel is never as soft as the inside of the apple so it will be harder or tougher but some people like it that way in the same way they like mashed potatoes with the peels left on.
thanks Jill! LOL…I keep the potato skins on 2 :)
Then you will love your apples like this. : )
Here’s a recipe we call “Papa’s Pudding” because my father enjoyed it so much. It can be made with any fruit, but he loved it best with stewed dried apples.
1 cup dried apple slices
water to cover by at least one inch
1 cup flour (I now use an all-purpose gluten free flour, but regular flour is what I began with)
1/2 cup sugar, plus extra for topping
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon, plus extra for topping
pinch salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
Place the apples and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until water is pretty much evaporated and apples are tender.
Meanwhile, place the flour, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a bowl, and whisk to mix.
Rub the butter in until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Combine the milk, egg and vanilla and mix into the dry ingredients.
Pour batter into a buttered and floured 8 or 9 inch square pan. Top with apples. Sprinkle with another spoonful or two of sugar and as much cinnamon as you like (we like lots).
Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25 minutes or until the top is browned and the sugar is melted. Serve warm with custard poured over top or with ice cream or whipped cream.
You can vary the fruits as you like. If you have fresh fruit in season, or frozen fruit other than apples, which benefit from a brief stint in a saucepan, you can dispense with cooking it. You can also vary the spice you use: I like a mix of cinnamon and nutmeg for blueberries or blackberries, and ginger or a ginger-cinnamon blend for peaches.
I hope you and your readers enjoy this; we sure do!
Was wondering how long the homemade applesauce will keep in the frig? Also could you freeze it? Have you stevia instead of white sugar? Thanks!
You can keep it in the fridge 7-10 days. In the freezer for 6 months. I have not tried stevia but if you like the taste of stevia (I don’t, so I haven’t tried it) then you an easily make it with it instead of sugar.
Make Apple Cider Vinegar!!!
Don’t know if anyone else mentioned this already, but you can add apple to most stew and baked veggie dishes. Just cut it into chunks similar to the size of the other veggies you have and add near the time you are done–otherwise you have applesauce! Believe it or not, apple and onion are great additions; we put them in almost every salad we serve.
Where I live, Cheshire, England can be a bit boring sometimes, but I’m quite glad that the local moggies leave the only scat I have to bother about and I’ve never seen a snake- though there are adders and slow worms in places.:)
I have two apple trees. The green summer harvest one has very sour apples that I can’t eat fresh, but make the most amazing pies, applesauce, apple butter, cinnamon apple rolls, etc. A fabulous cooking apple!! My red apple tree (the apples are actually red with a little green) are sweet, crisp, and juicy – wonderful “eating” apples, but good cooked, as well! I just use less sugar.
I also always thought it would be great to have an apple tree! And, it is, but when you get an average of 600 apples from one tree and 400 from another, I have learned the hard way that you cannot possibly use them all.
So, I use what I can in various ways, I share with family & friends, and I have learned to think of the excess not as waste, but abundance. My chickens enjoy their share and the rest go back to the garden soil for nourishment. (I’ve been told it is not good for the trees to let the apples decay around the trees)
The thought of “waste” causes me guilt. The thought of “abundance” brings me joy.
You may also be able to find a place locally that will turn your excess apples turn into cider. The gallon jugs can be frozen and/or sold!
Thank you for mentioning the dehydrator! I had planned to dehydrate some of my apples and then completely forgot as the end of the garden harvest and the apple harvest coincided.
you can use pears in place of apples in any recipe. One of those hand cranked corer/peelers that clamp onto a table will save you 75% of your time when canning or cooking large amounts. Definitely worth the money if you have a tree or regular access to lots of fruit.
Yes those apple corers are great. I don’t think I could get through all of my apples without that. The grand kids love playing with it to which saves me even more work. : )
hey I made your apple sauce, and I was wondering what I should do if I wanted to put it in jars,,should I put them in a bath.I only made to jars.p.s. my apples are still cooling. thanks you
Yes you do need to put them in a water bath and follow regular procedures for canning fruit.
Apple butter is so worth the effort to make! We have 2 apple trees in our yard, which yield about 100 lbs of apples per year. We give lots away, but process lots down into applesauce and apple butter. I more or less follow your recipe here, then can it follow basic jam instructions – 1/4″ headspace + 5 minutes processing (adjust for altitude).
Apple butter is fabulous for pork! We live in the middle of pork country, so we can often get whole tenderloins for *very* little money. To make apple butter tenderloin, put your tenderloin(s) in a zip bag with a couple of shakes of soy sauce, a splash of balsamic vinegar, a glug of olive oil and lots of garlic or garlic powder. Massage it all together and then let it hang out in the fridge for 30 min to a few hours. Put them in a shallow dish and smear with apple butter, then bake at 400 degrees until desired doneness. Let it rest before slicing, and pour the cooked juices that accumulated in the dish over the sliced tenderloin. Yum!
I am blessed/cursed to have three bearing apple trees. I also have two bird crabapples [grouse love these] and two no longer bearing trees. I struggle some years with how to use them all up (some years that’s 12-15 bushels- if it’s a good year- this year was an off year and I got 4 bushels. I make applesauce (frozen cause my hubby likes it better than canned), apple butter, apple jelly (both pink and white), I dry them for pie, I freeze them for crisp and cake, I use them fresh in pie, crisp, cake and bars. I also make chutney and fried apples at least once. I have no grand kids so candy apples are just diabetes on a stick for me & the hubs. Love to get new ideas on what else can I do…
Thanks for all of these apple recipes. Looks like I have a lot of printing and baking to do!
Fun tip— use apple juice instead of water (or half water/juice) in your oatmeal! It is DELICIOUS!! And you can add some chunks of apples and some cinnamon too— ooo, so good! Even my non-oatmeal-eating kid enjoyed it :-)