Fix Me A Snack

Here in Connecticut, Fall has arrived. Families are going to the orchard and joyfully picking apples. It’s all good family fun, until you get home and realize you actually have to eat them all.

The good news is that, most of the time, freshly picked apples will keep for weeks. Keep them in a cool, dark and somewhat ventilated place and they may last even longer. But even so, the apple supply can be a tad overwhelming.

Here are a few suggestions (gleaned from previous posts and from other food bloggers) for making apples easy to eat and exciting even when you’re near the bottom of the giant pick-your-own bag:

Sliced apples with honey
Sliced apples with carmel sauce or delce de leche
Sliced apples with cheddar cheese
Apple Flying Saucers
Sliced apples with Mud Dip
Sliced apples served alongside Honey-Roasted Pecans
Applesauce or Halloween Mush
Warm Apples Over Ice Cream or Frozen Yogurt
Microwaved Apples
Fried Apple Rings
Apple Crisp Cookies
Grilled Sausage and Apple Kebabs

Please share your favorite way to use up lots of apples in the Comments. Thanks!

Blah blah blah…we were strolling through the farmer’s market like our usual wannabe locavore selves and there it was – a big ol’ sunflower head. The person I gave $2.00 to told me to soak the seeds overnight in salty water and roast them.

I completely thought I was going to get stuck with the job of removing the seeds, but my kids went nuts and removed almost all of them themselves. Those little fingers do come in handy.

Once they were all removed we soaked them overnight in a couple cups of water with around 2 tablespoons of dissolved salt.

Then I roasted them on a baking sheet at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes until they started to brown just a bit.

The resulting seeds are a bit tough to crack. I find it easiest to rest the base of a shell on one of my lower molars and gently press down on the tip with an upper molar. It is a bit of a pain. But the perfectly salty little seed is worth the trouble. My 6 year-old loves these. I have to break them open for the younger one. 

The yield was about 1 1/2 cups. Store at room temperature in an airtight container.

My oldest headed off into the second grade today. I’m stuck at home with her younger sister and a boat load of fresh produce. Today for afternoon snack we used up the remainder of the blackberries and apples. But we’ll probably go and pick more soon. I’ve got a major addiction to pick-your-own this year.

My preschooler really enjoyed this snack saying things like “This is the best snack ever!!!” and “What did you put in this mama?!” She said these things very loudly as preschoolers are apt to do.

4 medium apples, washed and peeled
1 cup fresh blackberries, washed and picked over
3 tablespoons water or apple juice/cider
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons honey
1/2 – 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Roughly chop the apples and discard the cores. Place the apples, blackberries and water in a medium saucepan. Bring the apples and blackberries to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat and cover. Cook for ten minutes or until the apples easily turn to mush when squished with a fork.

Allow the cooked applesauce to cool slightly. Transfer to a strainer placed over a medium mixing bowl. Press the applesauce through the strainer with a rubber spatula or the back of a spoon. Keep pressing the applesauce through until not much more than the blackberry seeds remain. Serve or store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Yield: approximately 2 cups
Prep-time: 15 minutes

Date butter is not something a lot of folks have probably made before. Turns out that it is super easy and has a surprisingly pleasant taste. It’s plenty sweet, but much more mellow than white sugar because there’s still so much of the date left in there. I assume that means a lot of the dates’ nutritional goodness has stuck around as well, which is a bonus.

You will need:

6 ounces pitted dried dates (about 15-16 medium dates)
2/3 cup boiling water

Place the dates in a small saucepan. Pour boiling water over them, cover, and allow to sit for one hour.

After an hour, they look about the same. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-low heat. Allow to simmer for 5 – 7 minutes or until it starts to turn to mush.

Remove from heat and allow to cool. Put mixture through a strainer placed over a bowl using the back of a spoon or rubber spatula to push it through.

Discard the dry bits that will not pass through the strainer. Store the date butter in an airtight container in the refrigerator. I think this date butter would work wonderfully in place of the apple butter in my granola bars. I’ve also enjoyed some Almond and Date Butter Sandwiches as of late.

Yield: 3/4 cup
Active prep-time: 10 minutes
Inactive prep-time: 1 hour

These moist, sweet, and satisfying muffins take my whole family to our happy place. They are great stand-ins for cookies; in some ways they’re even more enjoyable!

This recipe was inspired by one from Nook & Pantry - a very yummy looking blog.

For the muffins:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour (or all-purpose)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup finely shredded carrot
1/4 cup raisins, chopped

For the filling:

4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 large egg yolk
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

In a small bowl, make the filling by mixing together the cream cheese, egg yolk, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, sugar, brown sugar, and oil. Stir in the flour mixture until combined. Then add the carrot and raisins. Stir to incorporate.

 Spoon the muffin batter into a well-greased mini muffin pan, filling each cup only half way. Then place one teaspoon of the filling in each cup. Cover the filling with the remaining muffin batter.

Bake for 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the largest muffin comes out clean. Cool the muffins in the pan for 5-10 minutes before gently moving them to a cooling rack. Serve. Store in an airtight container for up to 48 hours or freeze in an airtight container in a single layer.

Yield: 24 mini muffins
Prep-time: 30 minutes
Bake time: 13 minutes

I’ve got way too much applesauce taking up valuable real estate in my fridge. These muffins are deliciously moist and sweet out of the oven and well into the next couple days (that’s as long as they lasted here).

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Sweet Potato Quesadilla Recipe

For directions on how to cook a sweet potato in the microwave, see my recipe for Halloween Mush.

1/3 cup cooked sweet potato, no skin
2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup grated monterey jack cheese, packed
2 8-inch flour tortillas
1/4 cup cranberry sauce (optional)

In a small bowl, mash and mix the potato and applesauce together with a fork. Spread mixture evenly on one of the tortillas. Sprinkle cheese over potato mixture. Top with the second tortilla.

Cook in a saute pan over medium heat for a few minutes on each side or until the underside begins to brown. Remove from pan and slice into 8 triangles. Allow to cool for a few minutes. Serve with cranberry sauce as a dip (if desired).

Yield: 8 triangles
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 5 minutes

This recipe was inspired by Cranberry Applesauce at Simply Recipes (a wonderful website).

For more information about what apple(s) to use, the U.S. Apple Association offers a lovely Apple Usage Chart. I think the most important element is that the apples are fresh, as a recent artile in Saveur was kind enough to point out.

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When the apples are fresh, a little water to get things going is all you need. I used Millinium and Jonagold that we picked a week ago.

America’s Test Kitchen likes to use a few different varieties of apple in order to round out the flavor. According to my notes, they are fans of Jonagold, Jonathan, Pink Lady, and Macoun. Their second choices are Golden Delicious, Macintosh, Empire, and Rome. For more guidence on apple varities and their uses, the U.S. Apple Association offers a lovely Apple Usage Chart.

Once you’ve made this simple applesauce, adding a dollop of butter, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and a pinch of salt is more than okay. The butter makes the applesauce so rich and lovely (especially if you add a few dollops).

I’m sharing this simple recipe today because, oddly enough, it was a bit of a revelation to me. I think so many cookbook authors are busy reinterpreting a classic that a simple recipe like this doesn’t appear very often. And like I said, if you have the right apples, this is really all you need. 

6-8 fresh apples, peeled, cored and cut into quarters
1/4 cup water

In a medium saucepan, bring apples and water to a low boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cover for 15-20 minutes or until apples are extremely soft. Remove from heat, puree apples and liquid with a hand blender or in a standing blender. Serve warm or cold. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Yield: approximately 3 cups
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes

True, more of a dessert than a snack. How about a treat? Anyway, the kids loved it + it took no time at all to make + a serving of fruit = winner.

2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch freshly ground nutmeg (optional)
1 tablespoon butter
2 medium apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
Vanilla frozen yogurt

In a small bowl, mix together the maple syrup, cinnamon, and nutmeg (if desired). Set aside.

Heat a saute pan over medium heat. Add butter to pan and allow to melt. When butter starts to sizzle, add apples and stir to coat. Then add the maple syrup mixture and stir again. Cook the apples until they turn soft (approximately 5 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces).

Allow the apples to cool until they are warm instead of hot. Scoop frozen yogurt into small bowls, top with one quarter of the apples, and serve.

Note: In the picture above, I used pumpkin ice cream as my children selfishly ate all of the frozen yogurt before I had a chance to take a picture. Guess who got to eat the pumpkin ice cream version after the photo shoot? Yum.

Yield: 4 servings
Prep-time: 10 minutes