Apple recipes/ preservation?

Megan Venturella
Megan Venturella Posts: 678 ✭✭✭✭

I bought half a bushel of eating apples and half a bushel of cooking apples. I thought I might try canning apple pie filling, making my own apple cider vinegar, and canning applesauce.

I’ve made dried apples before but my family eats it as quickly as I dry it, so I probably won’t bother. I also tried Persian apple preserves one year. Those were very good

Any other suggestions? Is there anything you make that you love that I’m missing?

Thanks!

Comments

  • VermontCathy
    VermontCathy Posts: 1,987 ✭✭✭✭✭

    There are so many things you can do with apples. Some are main-course items, some are more of a sweet snack.

    I made apple jelly, apple pie, apple cake, applesauce, and apple turnovers this year. Most years I make apple butter, too, but I had a shortage of the larger apples that work better for apple butter, so I skipped that.

    I've often made apple dumplings for potluck dinners around the fall/winter holidays, but the last few years those potlucks have not been happening, so I skipped that this year too.

    You can also can or freeze apple pie filling, but I find I never do that. I just bake the whole pie and freeze it.

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    I make a sauce for pork chops.

    After frying the chops, I add apple slices to the pan and let them cook for a couple of minutes. Then about 1 - 1.5 cups of apple cider goes in. When that has reduced by at least half, stir in about 1 cup of heavy cream and boil until reduced and as thick and "saucy" as you like. A pinch of cinnamon is a good addition.

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2022

    DUTCH APPLE BREAD


    Apple Bread made from scratch with butter, sugar & plenty of fresh apples. Topped with a cinnamon Streusel & drizzled with warm vanilla glaze, it’s amazing.

    Ingredients:

    1/2 cup softened butter

    1 cup granulated sugar

    2 eggs

    1/2 cup milk

    1 tsp vanilla extract

    2 cups all-purpose flour

    1/2 tsp salt

    1 tsp baking powder

    1 1/2 cups diced peeled a green apple

    1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

    Topping:

    5 TBSP cold butter

    1/3 cup flour

    2 TBSP granulated sugar

    2 TBSP brown sugar

    2 tsp ground cinnamon

    Vanilla Glaze: Whisk all ingredients together until smooth. Set aside.

    1 TBSP melted butter

    1/2 cup powdered sugar

    1 TBSP milk

    1/4 tsp vanilla extract

    Instructions:

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a bread pan with parchment paper or spray with non-stick cooking spray.

    Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add in eggs, milk, and vanilla and stir to incorporate. Mix in flour, salt, and baking powder. Fold in apples and nuts. Transfer mixture to prepared baking pan.

    For topping, combine all ingredients and mix with a fork or pastry mixer until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter in pan.

    Bake for 55-60 minutes, until toothpick inserted in bread, comes out clean. (Internal temperature of bread will be 200 degrees F when fully cooked.) Let cool. Remove from pan and drizzle top with vanilla glaze. Slice and serve. Store leftovers in an airtight container.

  • marjstratton
    marjstratton Posts: 1,132 ✭✭✭✭

    So disappointed in my apple harvest this year. We have only a handful of apples this year, not even enough for much fresh eating. Last year was very different. We had apples galore. I dried them, made apple sauce, made apple butter.... So much more. Well, maybe next year I'll have a better apple year.

  • jowitt.europe
    jowitt.europe Posts: 1,465 admin

    @Megan Venturella I dry apples. My grandchildren eat a lot at the beginning, but then they have enough and I can store some for a winter snack. When I have too many apples I make apple cheese. I also make all kinds of jams mixing apples with different berries, plums. And I make lots of Apfelstrudels. And lots of apple vinegar as I use it as a softener for washing linen and clothes. I also use it for cleaning, thus all apple rests go into production of vinegar.

    @Monek Marie you gave a new idea for Dutch apple bread. Thank you.

  • water2world
    water2world Posts: 1,177 ✭✭✭✭

    @Megan Venturella This post and the replies have made me hungry!! Some great ideas and recipes! The only different thing I have done was to add apple slices and a little cinnamon to a crockpot of steel cut oats cooking.

  • Megan Venturella
    Megan Venturella Posts: 678 ✭✭✭✭

    @water2world Good idea! Thanks!

  • Megan Venturella
    Megan Venturella Posts: 678 ✭✭✭✭

    So far I made an apple clafoutis (it’s supposed to be made with cherries) and loads of apple pie. I thought I was going to try new and fabulous things, but the apple pie is just so good! I guess that’s why it’s a classic.

  • JennyT Upstate South Carolina
    JennyT Upstate South Carolina Posts: 1,273 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Monek Marie That dutch apple bread sounds amazing! I'll have to be sure to print this recipe and make it on my next baking day.😁

  • VermontCathy
    VermontCathy Posts: 1,987 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @marjstratton I have found that we seldom if ever get 2 really good apple years in a row. A large bumper crop of fruit seems to drain the trees so much that they need a year off to recover.

    I've heard that you can avoid this if you pick off blossoms or small fruits early to keep the crop smaller, but I've not been willing to do this.

    We pruned back some unwanted, hard to reach apple branches this spring in the hope that more apples would form on new branches in better locations, but it didn't work, at least not the first season following the pruning.

    Be very careful about pruning your most productive branches. The apples that would have formed on that branch won't necessarily form elsewhere on the tree.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin

    Hmm. Here I am eating apple crisp. 😄 It's a favorite here. We make a sweetened, cornstarch thickened sauce, pour it over the apples & top with oatmeal, brown sugar & butter, then bake. I much prefer it over an Apple Betty.

    @jowitt.europe could you post some Apfelstrudel & the apple cheese recipes? It would be fun to have a recipe or two from Austria!

  • marjstratton
    marjstratton Posts: 1,132 ✭✭✭✭

    @VermontCathy yes, we started picked off small apples a couple of years ago and had a really great crop. But last year, we had a very badly timed frost and bad wind. We are hoping for better weather this year.

  • jowitt.europe
    jowitt.europe Posts: 1,465 admin
    edited November 2022

    @LaurieLovesLearning the apple cheese recipes is from Lithuania. Here in Austria nobody knows it, unless they come to me 😊. @monica197 shared a recipe from Wikipedia last year, thus I write only my experience.

    It is easy to make and difficult at the same time. One peels and slices apples and adds sugar - 1:1. I also add some cinnamon. But then one has to stand for hours to stir, as the liquid has to evaporate while cooking on low heat. Otherwise it will burn. Once it is almost solid, one puts it into a cheese bag, weights it between two wooden cutting boards and leaves it to dry.

    @LaurieLovesLearning But Apple Strudel is definitely austrian. It is already a kind of tradition, that we serve Apfelstrudel to our guests. They do love it. We make it a bit different. We do not add bread crumbs fried in butter. It is used as a basis, but we consider it to be an unhealthy part of strudel, thus we omit it.

    Our ingredients:

    Strudel dough - this we buy fresh. Here one can get it in a food store. It is sold with baking paper round. One is enough for 5-6 people.

    about 5 bigger apples or 6 smaller ones

    a handful of raisins

    a handful of chopped walnuts

    sugar. We use it for guests, but end parts we leave without sugar and this is what we eat.

    cinnamon. We use a lot.

    a little bit of butter to spread on the rolled strudel on the dough so that it is nicely golden, when fried.

    whipped cream/brandy/ice cream to put on top, when we serve.

    How I make it.

    heat the oven to 180C up and down

    cover baking tray with baking paper

    spread the dough with the baking paper (the one in which it is rolled when bought) on top of the spread baking paper.

    peel and cut apples and spread them in the middle, leaving the sides empty. like a thick sausage. My form is longish 45:30cm

    top apples with raisins, nuts, sugar and cinnamon.

    make both sides of the dough meet. I use the baking paper (which was on the dough from the beginning to pull the sides up and then glue the two sides in the middle and with the help of baking paper turn the strudel over, so that the glued part is under on the baking paper which was spread on the baking tray. It is complicated to explain. Showing would be much easier 😕

    remove the baking paper (the one in which the dough was rolled.

    either melt butter and spread it on top of the dough or I just slice thin slices of butter and lay them all along the top of strudel.

    Bake for 25 minutes and take it out when it is nicely golden and smells very nice of apple strudel.

    putting ice cream or whipped cream or brandy on top adds to the charm.

    I was looking for a photo of my strudel. Unfortunately I did not find a single one. What a shame. Next time we make one, I will take pictures of the process.

  • annbeck62
    annbeck62 Posts: 1,028 ✭✭✭✭

    @jowitt.europe I'm not familiar with apple cheese. I'd try it but I'm not sure I want to stand at my stove for hours stirring the pot. Would you say it's worth the effort?

  • jowitt.europe
    jowitt.europe Posts: 1,465 admin

    no, not really. But, if one has children or sweet tooth then it might replace bonbons. I slice it in small pieces. It is very sweet and one can chew it. For me it is also something traditional.

    just to try one can make a small quantity and dry as apple leather in thin layers. For apple cheese one needs a larger quantity of apples.

  • mlee432
    mlee432 Posts: 1

    There are several mentions of apple cheese. From the UK.......a Victorian recipe

    English Heritage Victorian recipe for apple cheese (Gateau de Pomme) on You Tube. Enjoy!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g95bJQX6Po

    and How to harvest apples the Victorian way......

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssAoqhrVT28&t=50s

    Cooking with apples - the Victorian way - Apple hedgehog

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9xvCuO33Ao

  • moby_lumbra
    moby_lumbra Posts: 5 ✭✭✭

    This year I made applesauce, fruit leather, dehydrated apples (as well as some banana's that were going to go by, and some Grape/apple Jelly with my own concord grapes (that the japanese beetles and birds usually get before I do)

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    Hi @mlee432. Welcome to TGN's forum.

    Are you from the UK? We have an introductions section with where you can let us know what part of the world you are from (and see others from that region, too).

  • Sheila
    Sheila Posts: 108 ✭✭✭

    Usually we have plenty of apples for applesauce, dried apples, apple pies (usually just make the filling and freeze in the pie tins in a plastic bag then vacuum seal and pop back in the freezer, various sweets from crisps, fritters, turnovers, breads, muffins etc., a couple savory - apples baked with pork ribs or pork chops is a favourite.

    But this year the darn racoons got the apples before I did. Cleared my 2 trees off in a night. Oh well I do have enough in the freezer to see me through till next year I think :)

  • nicksamanda11
    nicksamanda11 Posts: 755 ✭✭✭✭

    Apple cinnamon fruit leather made with a SCOBY is an excellent way to use apples.

    Also, after I make ACV I dehydrate the pulp I used to make it and grind it into ACV powder. Literally no waste! Now- what to do with ACV powder😌

  • Megan Venturella
    Megan Venturella Posts: 678 ✭✭✭✭

    I finally canned some apple pie filling! I usually freeze it, so this was a first for me.

    The recipe was from healthycanning.com.