All About Apples

A couple years ago, one of my mom and Jeff's apple trees was quite fruitful, haha! But seriously, there were so many!! My relationship with apples was similar to Forrest Gump's relationship with shrimp. I tried so many recipes that summer/fall, so here are my favorites!

Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce

-8 apples; peeled, cored, and chopped

-1 1/2 c. water

-1/2 c. white sugar

-1 t. cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan. Cover and cook about 20 minutes over medium heat or until apples are tender and only a little liquid remains. Cool completely. Pour into a food processor or blender. Pulse until desired consistency. *You can leave the cinnamon out if that's not your thing! 

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

-1 1/4 c. flour

-1/2 c. brown sugar

-1/3 c. white sugar

-1/2 t. salt

-2 t. baking powder

-1 t. cinnamon

-1/2 c. oil or applesauce (feel extra Martha Stewart by using the applesauce from above!)

-1 egg

-1/3 c. milk

-1 apple; peeled, cored, and chopped- I chop mine pretty thin because I don't love big chunks of stuff

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line 12 muffin cups with muffin liners. Stir all dry ingredients in a bowl, 

including sugars. Add oil/applesauce and milk; mix well. Beat in egg. Fold in apples. The batter will be thicker than what you may be used to- that's normal! Sometimes I have to add just a splash more of milk if everything isn't combined well. Use a cookie dough scoop to fill muffin cups about 2/3 full. You can pour the batter in, of course, but a cookie scoop makes your life easier. Bake 16-18 minutes.

Apple Crisp 

-1 c. flour

-2 c. oats (old fashioned if you like an "oatier" texture, quick if you want to not really notice them much)

-1 1/2 t. cinnamon

-1/2 t. nutmeg

-1 1/2 c. brown sugar

-2 sticks butter, softened (maybe a little more if there is still too much floury mixture)

-2 quarts (8 cups) apples; peeled, cored, and chopped or sliced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Cut in butter. You can use a fork if you want to do that. A pastry blender doesn't work well because of the oats, FYI! I think it's easiest and fastest to just use your hands. Put the butter in the bowl and start squeezing it into the oat mixture. BUT don't go overboard and make this like dough! You WANT it to be kind of crumbly. Pat half of this mixture into a 9X13 pan. Pour all apples on top of that. Cover with remaining crumb mixture. Don't pat the top though- just drop it by little spoon fulls on the apples. Bake for 45-50 minutes. This stuff is great right out of the oven. Put a scoop of vanilla ice cream over it. Plop some Cool Whip on top of it. Or, do like I do and eat it just as it is!

As I was typing all these out, I realized I may have developed an obsession with apples and brown sugar a couple years ago. Oh well :) I've made these with store bought apples, too. I usually get Honeycrisp- when they're available- for the muffins and crisp. Gala work well for both of those, too. Granny Smith work well for the crisp. I would even use a mixture of them. Golden Delicious apples work well for the applesauce. Enjoy!