.The Most Delicious Thigh - Fattening Apple Crisp Ever.

Continuing on in my apple recipes this week - here is a reprint of our favorite apple crisp recipe. I am picky about my apple crisp, and I really think this is the BEST apple crisp recipe ever. Yes, it is sweet and totally, completely unhealthy, but you only have it one time of year! Right???



Ingredients:
1 cup unbleached or all purpose flour
3/4 cup rolled oats (I always use old fashion)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 cups chopped peeled apples
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Vanilla ice cream, optional

Directions:
In a bowl, combine first four ingredients. Cut in butter until crumbly. Press half into a greased 2-1/2-qt. baking dish or a 9-in. square baking pan. Cover with apples. In a saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, water and vanilla; cook and stir until thick and clear. Pour over apples. Sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture. Bake at 350° for about 1 hour or until the apples are tender. Serve warm, with ice cream if desired. Yield: 8 servings.

This recipe was originally a Taste of Home recipe. Click here for the printable recipe.

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.It's {one of} the Most Wonderful Times of the Year.

It's no secret that I love autumn and all of the wonderful things that go along with autumn....like apples! I have a really busy week ahead of me, so I decided to republish a few of my favorite apple recipes. I am hoping to throw in a few new ones as the week progresses. If you have an apple recipe to share, please include it in the comments.

Last year I decided to roast my applesauce, and the results were perfect - not too sweet, perfectly spiced, caramelized apple goodness! I prefer my applesauce chunky. I am not a big fan of pudding and jellos because of their lack of substance. However, if you prefer a smooth applesauce simply put it through your Foley Food Mill after roasting it.

1.Gather your apples - you will need 4lbs (which is approximately 12 apples). As you can see I did not use the apples we picked. I used the "seconds" or "dropped apples" that we purchased. This is what my mom always did growing up. If there was a really rotten spot I just cut it out.

2.Wash, peel, core, and slice your apples. Place them in a deep roasting pan. Add 1/2 C. cider, a 1/2 C. water, 4 strips of lemon peel, 3-4 T. lemon juice, one cinnamon stick, 1/4 C. dark brown sugar, up to 1/4 C. white sugar (I used 1/8 C), 1/2 tsp. salt, and grated nutmeg to your taste.

Put the roasting pan in a 400 degree preheated oven uncovered. Roast for 1-2 hours depending on how dark and caramelized you prefer - stirring often. I roasted my first batch for about 1.5 hours and my second and third batch for about 2 hours.

This was the first batch.

I was surprised how little 3 batches made! I froze 5 Quart bags of sauce, and I will no doubt be making more again soon.



Click here for the printable recipe. (I do not remember which website I found the recipe on for this sauce, but the ingredients are not original to me, and the method was stolen from a different recipe than the ingredients.)

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.The Apples of my Eye.

When I laid out Cadi's lesson plans for her first semester of kindergarten, I was excited to discover we would be doing a unit on the book How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World. I knew right away that we had to do a field trip with this unit, and that the field trip would be going to an apple orchard.



During my childhood we almost always picked apples at an orchard on Columbus day. It is these kinds of traditions that I love passing down to the next generation.



I think apple picking is one of the most fun "fruit picking" experiences for families with young children. The weather is cool and crisp, and it is easy for everyone to pick. It only took us about 20 minutes to pick over 50 lbs. of apples.



And of course everyone loves sampling the apples as we pick!



There is something about fall that I just love, and apple picking brings out the best points. I love being cozy with my family and enjoying the season together.



Now that we have so many yummy apples (we also got about 25 pounds of dropped apples for baking) I need to get busy in my kitchen! Jim's favorite apple cake is on for our small group tonight. I am thinking that they will be the recipient of lots of my apple recipes! {grin}

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