It's Time For Apples!

[posiepurrs]

I just saw something on my FB feed about a new apple - Cosmic Crisp -

I heard about them on the radio. According to the report they sell out completely when available, but they are not commercially available for the grocery stores yet. But they should be in a few years - at least that is what I heard. The growers responsible for developing it say it is the best apple they have ever eaten.

 

[maggie101]

Some brands mentioned are not in Houston. I will see if they're online

 

[Winchester]

90 pounds of assorted apples (30 pounds of Grannies)
1/2 gallon Granny Smith apple cider (made with Grannies only)
12 ounces Blueberry Balsamic Vinegar
6 cider doughnuts
6 sugar cakes with chocolate chips

 

[artiemom]

90 pounds of assorted apples (30 pounds of Grannies)
1/2 gallon Granny Smith apple cider (made with Grannies only)
12 ounces Blueberry Balsamic Vinegar
6 cider doughnuts
6 sugar cakes with chocolate chips

Send me some apples!!! wow...

Seriously, have fun, baking.... and, if you need my address, it is: .......

 

[MoochNNoodles]

90 pounds of assorted apples (30 pounds of Grannies)
1/2 gallon Granny Smith apple cider (made with Grannies only)
12 ounces Blueberry Balsamic Vinegar
6 cider doughnuts
6 sugar cakes with chocolate chips

Let's see... 1/2 peck of various apples; (I don't know how many but it was heavy! I took pictures of them with their signs so I can remember what is what later.), 2 dozen cider donuts, delicious but expensive ice cream and a sore foot.

 

[maggie101]

I have a strange question. Can you freeze apples since the honey crisp are not available annually?

 

[Mother Dragon]

Some brands mentioned are not in Houston. I will see if they're online

I live near Houston, too (near Tomball) and I haven't seen them at the HEB Vintage, so I don't think they're available. Honeycrisps are, though, but at $2.49 a pound.

 

[maggie101]

I forgot to mention that. I buy them at Kroger on Louetta. HEB produce is way to big for me. I eat them whole. Hands too shakey to cut. I live near Vintage next to Whole Foods

 

[Winchester]

I have a strange question. Can you freeze apples since the honey crisp are not available annually?

I would have said no (because I'm thinking the texture of frozen apples wouldn't be all that great), but according to various websites, you can freeze apples:

Three Ways to Freeze Apples
How to Freeze Apples

Again, I don't think the texture of the frozen apples would be good enough to just eat, but you could make pie filling and such and freeze that way.

 

[rubysmama]

I eat an apple almost every day. Is that too much? I eat other fruit but apples are my fav

I love all fruit, but especially apples. And I eat one pretty much every day too. Royal Gala are my favourite. I also like Golden Delicious.

Does anyone else bake apples. I love to core them, put each one on an apple baker, fill the center with butter and brown sugar with a few raisins. If I am really wanting something nice, I add a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

My Mom used to make them for us for dessert. Haven't had one in a long time.

Opal apples don't turn brown like other varieties do. Opal apples are hard to find in stores. Sometimes the independent market and Wegmas has them. Gala apples are pretty good, too.

Cortland apples don't turn brown either.

Mmmm... all this apple talk has me craving apple crisp, and apple sauce and apple pie.

 

[Winchester]

Way to go MoochNNoodles ! Excellent!

So far, I have 13 quarts of sauce (smooth that we put through the food mill), 2 Dutch crumb apple pies and a two-crust pie. The two-crust pie is filled with apples and brown sugar (instead of granulated), toasted pecans and raisins that I plumped in a bit of warm bourbon. I think we'll save that one for Thanksgiving. I also made an apple coffee cake.

I still have the apple dumplings to do and Rick would like some chunky sauce. Since chunky sauce isn't milled, I'll have to peel the apples and then chunk them before cooking.

We haven't made baked apples in quite a while. I'll have to make some; Rick would love them.

Here's a favorite of ours, made with yams and apples. I like to serve it for Easter or Thanksgiving sometimes.

Yam-Stuffed Apples

8 medium tart baking apples
1 yam, about 10 ounces, cooked and mashed
¼ cup packed brown sugar
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp. slivered almonds or toasted pecans
2 Tbsp. melted margarine
¼ cup maple syrup

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Corn each apple from stem end, making a 1¼-inch strip around the top of each apple. Remove apple pulp. Mash pulp and mix with remaining ingredients. Fill apples with mixture. Bake 50 minutes. Makes 8 servings.

 

[Winchester]

So far.....
13 quarts of smooth applesauce
6 quarts of chunky applesauce
2 Dutch crumb apple pies
1 double crust apple pie
24 apple dumplings (my sister took 4 and Rick's mom wanted 2; we have four for eating now and the rest are in the freezer)
1 oblong apple coffee cake

I never did get the apple butter made....maybe next year.

I still want to try apple fritters and apple cider doughnuts, maybe this coming weekend. And that cake with the boiled apple cider frosting is decadently good! The only apples left are about 30 Grannies that The Beast and I will share. (Did I mention that The Beast has a habit of sticking her nose in my butt when she wants something to eat? Well, she happens to really, really love apples and she seems partial to Grannies -- although, let's face it, if it's food, she'll eat it -- and so once she realized that I was peeling apples, she came into the kitchen quickly. I purposely cut a quarter of an apple into chunks and set it aside, so she had a snack while I was working. She seems happy to hang out in the kitchen with me and she usually gets a bit of a treat.)

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

wow, Winchester ! that's great!

this year, when making my apple sauce, i decided to make it in the slow cooker. i used the same recipe that i use making apple sauce on the stove top. it turned out so good that way, and i really liked that i just got it going in the slow cooker and then let it 'do it's thing' on it's own. i used the back of the big cooking spoon-thing to mash some of the bigger bits, but not too much because i like my apple sauce extra chunky.

do you use a peeler, and a corer-slicer? i'm thinking i'll invest in those for next year's apples -- that should save me some time.

 

[Winchester]

My sister has an apple peeler/corer/slicer, but I don't use it. Hers isn't really all that sharp and I can do it faster on my own. I have very sharp paring knives and I do have an apple corer, which makes quick work of coring the apples for dumplings. Hint: If you use an apple corer, make sure that your apples are straight! I cored a couple apples the other night and even though I started at the stem end and went straight through with the corer, the apple didn't sit straight so the corer didn't go through to the other end where the calyx is. I had to make a really big hole at the bottom of the apple!

Since we use a food mill for smooth sauce, it's just a matter of washing the apples, cutting them into quarters or eighths, depending on size, and throwing them into the pot. The food mill catches peels, stems, and seeds. I do have to peel and seed for chunky sauce, but it doesn't take real long to get them done. Rick usually does the food milling part of it, but I do everything else. He is the taster; this time we used no sugar at all. I used a good teaspoon of cinnamon and maybe 5-6 grates of nutmeg pod per three quarts of sauce.

For dumplings, I do four at a time. I core and peel the four apples first, then roll out the dough. Fill each apple with pecans and raisins, wrap the dough around the apple and throw it into the pan. Then I do four more. Once I have eight done, then I make the syrup and pour that around the apples and throw the pans into the oven. When I have about 15 - 20 minutes left on the timer for the apples in the oven, then I start the next batch. Til two pans come out, I have two more ready to go in. It works!

 

[maggie101]

We need to have a get together. I want try all these recipes. Thsy all sound so good!

 

[amysuen]

I love, love, love apples! Cortlands are my favorites, with MacIntosh a close second. I'm not fond of any color Delicious apples though.

 

[LTS3]

I'm having a locally grown Jonagold apple right now. I've never had one before. It's good And huge, a little bigger than a baseball The taste is kind of like a Macintosh, sweet but a little tart. I'm going to have to go back to the store and buy more. They're $0.98 / lb.

 

[artiemom]

I'm having a locally grown Jonagold apple right now. I've never had one before. It's good And huge, a little bigger than a baseball The taste is kind of like a Macintosh, sweet but a little tart. I'm going to have to go back to the store and buy more. They're $0.98 / lb.

Jonagold is one of my favorites. Along with mutsu

 

[rubysmama]

I made apple crisp for dessert a couple days ago. Hadn't made one in years. It was delicious, though could have used some vanilla ice cream on the side. Next time.

 

[Columbine]

Does anyone else bake apples. I love to core them, put each one on an apple baker, fill the center with butter and brown sugar with a few raisins. If I am really wanting something nice, I add a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

We bake apples whenever we want an easy, hot dessert. Mum stuffs hers with marzipan and the drizzles with honey before baking. Dad likes them with a little plug of marzipan in the base (to keep the filling in) then stuffed with homemade mincemeat. We don't have an apple baker though - we just put them in oven-safe dishes.

I have a strange question. Can you freeze apples since the honey crisp are not available annually?

I would have said no (because I'm thinking the texture of frozen apples wouldn't be all that great), but according to various websites, you can freeze apples:

Three Ways to Freeze Apples
How to Freeze Apples

Again, I don't think the texture of the frozen apples would be good enough to just eat, but you could make pie filling and such and freeze that way.

We almost always have apples in the freezer, from our own small trees and from trees of friends (this year everyone but us has had a bumper year for apples, so we've benefitted from others' generosity ). We core, peel and slice or chunk them, ready for crumbles or crisps throughout the year They work wonderfully used like that, but I can't imagine defrosting frozen apples to eat raw