Apples

[Darlica]

Every autumn I get apple fever (and I'm not talking about computers...).
This means that I want to bake, cook, and eat apples until it comes out of my ears.

When it's apple season around here the fruit is cheaper than usual and there are more kinds of apples to choose from, unfortunately many old sorts are on the decline, nobody knows about them or ask for them any more people usually buy "red" or "green" apples. 

Anyhow one of my favourite apple dishes are apple pies and especially Smulpaj that would be crumb pie in English I think (if you recognize the recipe and know the proper Eng. name please tell me!)

It's very easy to make but you can refine the basic recipe as much as you want making it your own.
I usually uses an apple called Discovery for this since it is firm and won't become to mushy during preparation it also looks nice (the fruit meat is pink closest to the peel and white in the middle) and it gives the pie a bit of rhubarby taste and look.

Darlicas Apple pie 6-8 pices

You need a aside from the ingredients; a rather big bowl (or food processor) a baking tin 24 cm diameter, and an oven set to 225°C

The dough:
1½ decilitre wheat flour
1½ decilitre oat-flakes
1½ tablespoon sugar
1 pinch of baking powder (isn't necessary but gives crustier crumbs)
125 g butter (real butter and cold, directly from the fridge)

Measure up the dry ingredients in a bowl or food processor mix a bit so the sugar, oat-flakes and baking powder is well mixed with the flour.

Cut the cold butter in dices and use your fingertips to mix the flour-mix with the butter by pinching it together (or just use the food processor  ) the dough is ready when your bowl is full of crumbs.

Here I usually put the bowl with the dough in the fridge and start with the apples.

The filling
4-5 firm apples (not the mealy kind)
2- 5 tablespoons of sugar (I prefer brown unrefined sugar) depending on how sweet the apples are and how sweet you like your pie.
2 tablespoons of butter
Cinnamon to taste

Peel and cut into thin wedges. Heat a frying pan and melt the butter, when the butter stops sizzling throw in the apples, stir gently, add the sugar and cinnamon (I love cinnamon so I use a lot of it), stir again and turn down the heat a bit, let the apples simmer for awhile (it's not wrong to pour a tablespoon or two of calvados or apple brandy in to the pan but it isn't necessary)  then take them of the stove and let them cool.


assembling
Butter the baking tin or use aluminium foil, take the dough out of the fridge and sprinkle enough dough crumbs on the bottom of the tin so it is barely covered. Gently pour the apples in to the tin, even the surface with a spatula if needed and sprinkle the rest dough crumbs on top.

Put it in the oven for 30 minutes.

Enjoy with vanilla ice cream or with vanilla yoghurt dressed up with some lime zest and a little squeezed lime.

[Opsa]

Wow! That sounds so good.

I love apples, too. I especially like the more tart varieties (tart that I am) like McIntosh and Granny Smith. We have several orchards in my area. I hope to get out this weekend and do some picking!

I used to make a simple apple cake following the Bisquick (lazy baker's) coffee cake recipe.

Bisquick Coffee Cake recipe

2 cups Bisquick
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 egg
2/3 cup water or milk
PLUS: 1 apple, sliced thinly

Mix all ingredients. Sprinkle Topping over the top. Bake in a greased 9-inch round pan at 400 degrees F for 25 minutes.

Topping:
1/3 cup Bisquick
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, firm

Mix until crumbly.


This works well with golden delicious apples.

[anthrobabe]

mmmm apples

I love to make "fried apples and onions"
take 4 large cooking apples (you want them to be firm and tart- good old granny smith are great and slice them leaving the peel on like you would for apple pie slices,next take one onion (size your choice- big to small-depending on how much you like cooked onion) and slice into very thin slices.

melt 1 stick of butter in a heavy pan over medium heat until it is melted and bubbly then add the onion and cook for 2 or 3 minutes then put the apples in and continue cooking and "stirring" very gently until the onions are starting to turn golden brown and the apples are soft.
this can get mushy quick so watch it.
best if the apples are hot and cooked but not mushy and the onion completely cooked


Baked apples:
2/4/6 or 8 medium apples-- firm kind-your choice- I love Romes this way
brown sugar(about 2 tablespoonsful per 2 apples)
cinnamon(about 1/8th teaspoonful per 2 apples)
butter(about 2 tablespoonsful per 2 apples)-yes you can use less- but why?
pinch of pure ground cayenne pepper(about 1/16th teaspoonful per 2 apples (yes indeed!) or more to taste- the goal is not heat but enhancement-sort of Viagra for your apples
`water enough to just cover the bottom of whatever pan you are using- no depth just enough to make some steam- 1 or 2 tablespoonsful is enough. The apples will release some juice -this just helps the process start.

`first wash and dry your apples well.
`next cut a small thin slice off of the blossom end with a sharp knife to make the base of your apple flat and even so they will stand up in the baking pan-cut just enough to make them stand up flat.
`next cut off the top of the apple, cutting just enough off to remove the stem-- I like to cut at an angle so that I keep the apple and just make a flat topped hollow so I can get the rest of the core out.
`use an apple corer-- be careful not to cut all the way through the bottom- you don't want the good stuff to run out- to remove the core- usually scooping out about halfway will suffice.
`mix the butter, sugar,cinnamon and pepper in a bowl and then divide mixture evenly among your apples.
`put "stuffed" apples in your baking pan- try and have them not touch- then cover the pan with it's cover or aluminum foil and bake at 375 degrees until apples are cooked about 30 to 40 minutes. As they cook check and make sure they are not going dry on you --- add some water if needed.
`cool slightly and serve warm--- especially good with real cream.

`if you want you can add some chopped nuts to the mix- just a couple of tablespoons chopped fine

[The Meromorph]

Darlica,
That's very close to an English dish called Apple Crumble (can be, and is, done with any fruit). Rhubarb or Blackberry Crumble is also fabulous. Adding Rhubarb or Strawberries to the Apple is also good.
The basic English Crumble is normally only on the top of the dish, I've never seen a thin layer on the bottom, but it would be good  .
Also the basic English Crumble would most commonly be done with all flour (no oatmeal), but substituting half oatmeal is a common Northern England variation.

Some people (all of my family) 'fight' over who gets the gooey sticky half-burnt bits where the juice bubbles up round the edges..


Anthrobabe,
We do that one, but we always add sultanas (golden raisins) or raisins as the principal ingredient in the stuffing...

[Darlica]

Mero: What you describe sounds like the traditional Crumble pie over here too.
I have changed a bit here and there, among other things the apples are just peeled and sliced in the original and sugar and cinnamon sprinkled on top of them, once when I was making tarte tartine I thought I should try to combine the two methods since cooking the apple with butter and spices before putting them in the baking tin, in my opinion, really lifts the flavours. That's why I so boldly calls it "Darlicas Apple pie". 

I'm gonna' have to eat some of Zono's humble pie now, right...

I make raspberry pie this way too, no cinnamon though. 
Also, I love Rhubarbs but I usually mix them with thick apple sauce when making pies (or I go Rhubarb and brown sugar all the way)
*sigh* pie made on the first tender Rhubarb stems in the spring*sigh and drool*    

anthrobabe:
Fried apples and onions is not an uncommon side dish to some sausage dishes over here together with mashed potatoes. I've never liked it much but that probably because I don't like the kind of sausage it is served with or mashed potatoes for that matter... Maybe I should try it with a grilled beef or something?

I used to make baked apples a lot as a kid, it's a fast easy and cheap desert but we did it sans cayenne pepper, and again, using oat-flakes in the filling and with lots of sugar on top so it gets all toffee like crust.

Mmm butter and sugar...

[Bluenose]

Hmmm, yummy stuff!

One of my favourite ways of cooking apple is to simply core the apple, fill the void with Robertson's Fruit Mince* and them bake them.

* It has to be robertson's, a proper English product, I have never found another brand that tastes quite right, usually they are too sweet, Robertson's has a delicious spicy edge to it that is just delicious, also it makes proper mice pies at Christmas.

[The Meromorph]

Hmmm, yummy stuff!

One of my favourite ways of cooking apple is to simply core the apple, fill the void with Robertson's Fruit Mince* and them bake them.

* It has to be robertson's, a proper English product, I have never found another brand that tastes quite right, usually they are too sweet, Robertson's has a delicious spicy edge to it that is just delicious, also it makes proper mice pies at Christmas.

MMM! Robertsons Mincemeat (as it used to be known in England. Now you remind me, I believe my mother hit on the raisins thing when she discovered at the last minute she was out of Robertsons (remember the Golliwog?) and we all liked it so much she never went back to using Robertsons.

[Sibling Chatty]

Apples. Do not like mealy ones, only crisp, tart ones. Galas, Braeburns, Cameos..Gravenstein!!

Love apple crisp/crumble, pie, even the quintessentially weird "Apple Brown Betty" that's claimed as 'regional' everywhere in the US, and made differently in every region. (Some us only apples, some add raisins/sultanas, some add sweet potatoes, some use a batter, some use a crumble topping, LOTS use diced bread or breadcrumbs--standard in every recipe, however, is butter, sugar and cinnamon, so haw bad can in be?)
=============

Anthrobabe...if you happen to see any Arkansas Black apples...YUM!! I had a friend that used to bring them to me every year until her Granddad sold the farm.

http://www.allaboutapples.com/varieties/var_a2.htm#arkansasblack

[Bluenose]

Ooh! Ooh!  Gravensteins!  YUM!

I used to have one in a place I lived in years ago.  Absolutley the best apples, but didn't keep at all, had to eat em straight off the tree, especially in the cool of the early morning - HEAVEN!!!!

At least that was until our neighbour sold his house and the new owners chopped down their Jonathon apple tree - end of our apples.   Wratter fratter grumphlebum grrrrr.....

[anthrobabe]

I'm going to try some new ways of baking apples now--- I'm a butter addict so always drench them-- but do need to not consume so much butter!

I wonder what kind of apples are at the Farmers Market right now.

My grandma made bread pudding with apples sauce quite often- I've never figured it out-- but keep trying.
(I was little so only remeber how good it was-- she might have simply smeared applesauce over the top once it was out of the oven-- I've been trying to mix it in before baking with the raisins, hmmmmmm)

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I'm gonna' have to eat some of Zono's humble pie now, right...

Titus was all too eager to share his pie. How could I let the fruit of his labor go to waste?

[Opsa]

Ooh! We went apple-picking and got some golden delicious and a whole bunch of Greenings! It was lovely.

The best part was going back down the hillside and having made-on-the-spot caramel apples. They were out of this world!

[mushroomeater]

hahaha apple fever  that's cute! i have been having an appetite for apples recently, but i don't know whwther the cause of my appetite is apple fever or what