Recipes
Apple varieties with a tart flavor work well in pies. Summer apples such as Lodi, Duchess or Pristine are sour and will compliment the pie’s sweetness. Northern Spy, Jonagold, Wolf River, Idared, Gravenstein, and Cortland are some other favorites for pies. For complexity, combine three different varieties into one pie. Preferences will vary, and you may have your own favorite apple not mentioned here.
Apples are also great in salads, and the best varieties for salads will also depend on your preference. To prevent browning, select varieties that have a non-browning flesh such as Cortland and the new variety SnowSweet. Empire, Gala, Honeycrisp and Macoun are a few other varieties recommended for salads.
Ginger Gold Apple Crisp By Pietree Orchards
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease a 9×13” baking dish.
3. Wash, core and thinly slice ¼ peck Ginger Gold or other favorite yellow apples
4. Toss sliced apples with 3 TB diced crystallized ginger, ¼ tsp. ground cloves, 4 TB vanilla sugar, and ¼ cup apple cider or apple juice
5. Place filling into greased baking dish.
6. In a medium bowl, mix together
1 cup whole wheat flour or, for gluten-free variation: ¾ cup brown rice flour and 1/4 cup tapioca starch
¾ cup light brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup chopped pecans (omit for nut-free), and ¼ tsp. salt.
7. When streusel topping is mixed together, add 5 TB melted unsalted butter or, for vegan variation, 5 TB melted soy margarine, tossing well together to create fine crumble topping.
8. Spoon topping over apple ginger filling.
9. Bake 60-75 minutes, until filling is soft.
10. Enjoy!
Butternut Apple Soup By Pietree Orchards
Apples and cider team up with butternut squash, another fall favorite, for a light and satisfying soup.
Heat 1 TB olive oil in a stock pot.
Add 2 medium onions, sliced into crescents, and sauté until soft and starting to turn golden.
Add 2 medium butternut squashes, peeled, seeded and cut into 1” pieces.
Add 2 medium McIntosh apples or other favorite soft cooking apple, peeled, cored and chopped.
Add 5 cups vegetable broth, 1 TB rubbed sage, 1 tsp salt (or to taste). Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer, cooking 20-30 minutes, until squash pieces are soft.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, reduce 1 pint of apple cider by boiling, until ½ – ¾ cup liquid remains.
Puree the squash-apple mixture. Stir in reduced cider. Adjust salt, pepper, and sage to taste. Sprinkle each serving with a dash of paprika.
Enjoy!
North African Spiced Roast Apples & Vegetables By Pietree Orchards
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Grease 9×13” baking dish.
3. In small bowl, mix together: 1 tsp. ground ginger, 1 tsp. black pepper, ½ tsp. ground cloves, ½ tsp. ground cinnamon, ½ tsp. ground turmeric, ½ tsp. ground coriander, ½ tsp. garlic powder, ¼ tsp. ground cayenne pepper, ¼ tsp. salt.
4. In large bowl, mix together:
- 1 medium turnip, peeled and cut into ½” pieces
- 2 large onions, peeled and cut into eighths
- 6 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1” pieces
- 1 head garlic, peeled
- 5 McIntosh apples or another favorite soft baking apple, cored and cut into ¾” pieces
5. Toss fruit and vegetables with 2 TB olive oil. Then, toss fruit and vegetables with spice mixture.
6. Cover pan with foil and bake 30 minutes.
7. Uncover, stir fruit and vegetables and roast uncovered 15 minutes more.
8. Enjoy!
Lodi Apple Summer Salad By Pietree Orchards
Lodi apples are the first ones to be harvested from our trees, usually right before our delicious peaches! Lodi is a yellow-green apple, a cross of Yellow Transparent and Montgomery. The apples are crisp and tart, terrific for eating in salads, fresh out of hand, and for making into applesauce and apple butter. Lodi do not store well, but then, as the first fruits of the apple season, we never find that there are any to keep around!
Toss together:
1 bag of mixed salad greens, washed and dried
½ cup of walnuts, toasted
1 bunch radishes, washed and sliced
3 Lodi apples, washed, cored, and diced, tossed with 1 TB lemon juice
Dressing:
In a food processor, mince a handful of parsley.
With the processor running, add:
¼ cup walnut oil
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar salt and pepper to taste
Adjust seasonings to taste. Spoon over salad. Enjoy!
Apple Butter ( Makes 5 Pints ) From: Erin Pierce, Orchard Hill Orchards
Lodi apples are the first ones to be harvested from our trees, usually right before our delicious peaches! Lodi is a yellow-green apple, a cross of Yellow Transparent and Montgomery. The apples are crisp and tart, terrific for eating in salads, fresh out of hand, and for making into applesauce and apple butter. Lodi do not store well, but then, as the first fruits of the apple season, we never find that there are any to keep around!
Toss together:
1 bag of mixed salad greens, washed and dried
½ cup of walnuts, toasted
1 bunch radishes, washed and sliced
3 Lodi apples, washed, cored, and diced, tossed with 1 TB lemon juice
Dressing:
In a food processor, mince a handful of parsley.
With the processor running, add:
¼ cup walnut oil
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar salt and pepper to taste
Adjust seasonings to taste. Spoon over salad. Enjoy!
Apple Butter Spice Cake ( Apple Butter Keeps Cake Moist And Low Fat ) From: Erin Pierce, Orchard Hill Orchards
1 cup apple butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup molasses
1/4 cup canola oil
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt.
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. lightly oil 7 x 11 baking pan.
3. In a large bowl wisk together the apple butter,buttermilk,molasses,oil egg and vanilla.
4. In another bowl mix together the flour,brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon,allspice,cloves,baking soda,salt. Make sure to break up any small lumps of brown sugar.
5. Stir the dry ingredients into the apple butter mixturejust until combined.
6. Using a rubber spatula scrape the batter into the prepared baking dish. Smoothing over the top.
7. Baking for 35-45 minutes. Until toothpick comes out clean. Cool the cake on a rack in the pan for 10 minutes.
8. Cut into 12 squares. Serve with some homemade whipped cream. Enjoy. Check your local apple orchard to see if they might sell apple butter.
3 grams protein, 2 grams fiber.
Old-fashion Apple Dumplings From: Erin Pierce, Orchard Hill Orchards
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup chilled butter
1/2 cup 2 % reduced fat milk
4 medium baking apples ( such as gravenstein, rome, ida red, or cortland) peeled and cored
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Syrup:
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 teaspoons groun cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. to prepare dumplings, combine flour ,baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. cut butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Pour in milk and stir to form a dough. Add more flour if needed to make dough less sticky. Do not overwork. Divide dough in half. Roll out one half on a floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick. cut into two 6 inch squares.
3. Cut off tops and bottoms of each apple to flatten. Rinse in cold water and pat dry with a paper towel.
4. Mix together 4 tablespoons sugar,cinnamon,nutmeg. Place 1 apple in center of each dough square. ( you may fill center with cranberries and sugar) optional. Generously sprinkle half the remaining sugar mixture on apples. Moisten the edges of the pastry square with a clean finger dipped in cold water and bring corners together at the top of the apple. Press edges together to seal and pinch together any tears in the dough around the apple. Repeat with remaining dough and apples.
5. Place all four dumplings in a baking dish, 1 inch apart, and decorate with cut out leaf prints made from leftover dough.
6. Combine syrup ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil then remove from heat to slightly cool.pour around dumplings and sprinkle with remaining sugar.
7. Bake 45 minutes until apples are tender and pastry is browned. ( you may choose to cover with foil in the last 10-15 minutes of cooking if browning comes too quickly.
Serve hot. Enjoy autumn. Support your local apple orchards.
8 grams protein, 5 grams fiber
Apple Crisp From: Brackett’s Orchard
¾ cup sugar
1 tbl Spoon Flower
¼ tsb salt
¼ tsb cinnamon
4 cups peeled (cored) sliced apples
½ cup melted margarine
½ cup brown sugar
1 cup quick Quaker Oats
¼ tsb baking powder
Mix sugar flour salt and cinnamon with apple slices and place in a greased baking pan
Mix margarine and brown sugar then add oats and baking powder
Spread the apple mixture on bottom of the baking pan then spread the brown sugar mixture on top of the apples
Baked at 350 for 40 minutes
*Serve with a cool dairy treat like whip cream, ice cream or cool whip
Apple Muffins From: Brackett’s Orchard
2 cups flower
3 tsb baking powder
¼ cup sugar
Dash of salt
3 tbls melted margarine
1 beaten egg
2/3 cup milk
1 cup chopped and peeled apple
1/3 cup brown sugar
½ tbs cinnamon
½ cup finely chopped nuts
Sift together flower, baking powder, sugar and salt; add margarine, egg, milk and apple and place on the bottom of a greased and floured muffin tin. Mix topping of brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts and sprinkle over batter. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.
Apple Dumplings (Yields 4)
2/3 Cup sugar
½ cup water
2 tbl margarine
¼ tbs cinnamon
Pie dough
4 apples peeled and cored
Boil sugar, water, margarine and cinnamon for 2-3 minutes
Cut a square of dough for each apple
Place each apple on a square
Sprinkle with a ½ tbl spoon sugar, dash of cinnamon and dot with margarine
Wrap pastry around apple and place in square baking dish
Pour syrup mixture over apples and pastry (leave some for basting)
Bake at 375 for 40 minutes basting apples occasionally with syrup
*Serve with a small pitcher of milk with nutmeg on the top
Apple Pie From: Brackett’s Orchard
Pie crust for a 2 crust 9” pie
¾ cup sugar
1 teas. Nutmeg
1 teas. Cinnamon
Brackett Orchard Apples
Select a pie crust of your choosing for a 9” two crust pie. Put one crust on the bottom of the pie plate. Mix ¾ cup sugar, 1 teas. Nutmeg & 1 teas. Cinnamon together. Spread some of this mixture on the bottom crust.. Peel and core applies. When complete, cut the apples into slices. Add the applies slices to the pie bowl in layers. In between the layers of apple slices, keep adding more of the sugar and spice mixture until it is gone. Cut a 1 ¼” slit in the center of the crust, and three small slits on the side of the initial slit to let steam escape. Pat sides of bottom crust with water, and apply top crust. Seal the top and bottom crusts together. Brush the top crust with water. Bake at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Server with vanilla ice cream.
Ideal Apple Crisp (Or Any Fruit) From: North Chester Orchards
Glass baking dish – greased lightly. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp. tapioca on bottom of pan to absorb juice.
Fill dish with peeled, sliced apple. Sprinkle 2 Tbsp. sugar over fruit.
Prepare Topping: Combine 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup cooking oil, 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/4 tsp. salt, 3/4 tsp. cinnamon, chopped nuts if desired
Spoon topping over fruit.
Bake 350 degrees, 45-50 min. Serve with cream or icecream.
All of these ingredients can be adjusted as desired according to personal taste.
(Topping recipe can be doubled)
Yummy Applesauce (Excellent On French Toast) From: North Chester Orchards
Fill a large pot with peeled sliced apples (we like half McIntosh, half Cortland)
Pour about 2 cups boiling water into a pot of apples, cover pot. Begin cooking on high heat for 5-10 min.
Stir apples, continue cooking, covered, on low heat 10 more min. Stir again. Repeat until the whole pot of apples is soft.
Uncover, cook on lowest heat stirring often to prevent scorching. Continue to simmer 2-4 hours until desired thickness.
Add some brown sugar and some white sugar and a little cinnamon to please your taste.
Applesauce stores great in the freezer in plastic containers.
Great Baked Apples From: North Chester Orchards
8 X 8 glass baking dish – oven 350
One slice of bread – spread with butter, sprinkle with cinnamon. Cut four one inch squares, set aside.
Core 4 nice Cortland or Paula Red apples – place one square of buttered bread down inside, just to bottom to form plug for filling.
Lightly score the peel with a serrated knife in 4 places to help keep apple from popping open during baking.
In a small bowl combine 4 tsp. graham cracker crumbs, 4 tsp. brown sugar, 1 tsp. oil, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, a few nuts as desired.
Stuff 1/4 of this mixture in each apple. Place the 4 apples in baking dish, pour about 1-1/2 cups boiling water into dish.
Bake about 45-50 min. until tender. Serve with cream.
Best Pork Chops Ever From: North Chester Orchards
Crockpot…in the morning:
Rub each pork chop with a little lemon juice, a bit of Bell’s seasoning, salt & pepper, some onion powder.
On top of each pork chop place sliced onion and thick slices of peeled apple.
Gently place each chop in crockpot, bake on low all day.
Grammie Ludden’s Crabapple Pickles
From: North Chester Orchards
Syrup – boil together: 1 cup vinegar, 2 cups sugar, 1 cup water
Crabapples: Leave the stem on, cut out fly (blossom end), insert a clove in each
(alternate method-put a couple cloves in each jar before filling…)
Steam crabapples just until skins start to crack open. Pack in hot jars, pour boiling syrup over, seal tight.
5 quarts apples takes 3 mixtures of vinegar.
Best Method For Crabapple Jelly From: North Chester Orchards
Around midday wash, core, and cut in half the apples in the recipe (I like to add a bit more), place in a pot with water according to the recipe.
Cover pot, bring to boil and simmer about 15 min., stirring occasionally. Turn heat off and let sit all afternoon (this allows ALL the beautiful apple skin color to go into the juice). In evening, set up a colander over a bowl for straining – let the juice strain out through the night. Next morning you have your lovely juice to proceed with your jelly recipe ( I prefer the “SureJell Light” in pink box – less sugar allows a more intense flavor).
Heaven And Earth From: North Chester Orchards
Layer slices of potatoes, apple, and onion in a lightly greased casserole dish. Mix in a slice or two of crumbled bacon and a dash of nutmeg. Bake covered for 50 to 60 minutes at 350 degrees.
Delicious!
Potage (Better Than Squash Soup) From: North Chester Orchards
(the quantities are loose – all can be adjusted according to preference)
In large pot: 1 onion chopped, 1 stalk celery sliced, 2-3 carrots sliced, 1/2 medium squash peeled and cut up, 3 or 4 potatoes peeled and cubed
Add water 3/4 way up on veggies, cover – bring to boil and simmer about 12 minutes until soft. Mash with potato masher.
Add 1 cup chicken broth or milk, a little lemon juice, salt & pepper to taste, (some onion powder if desired)
(leftover green beans are a nice addition as well)
Blend in blender or in a pot with immersion blender until creamy.
Reheat gently. Serve with a dollop of sour cream on top and sauteed diced ham (if desired).
Oatmeal Apple Cookies By Hansel’s Orchard
1 Cup flour
1 Cup brown sugar
1 t baking powder
1 egg
¼ t salt
½ t vanilla
¼ t cinnamon
1 ½ Cup whole oats
¼ Cup butter or margarine
1 apple peeled and chopped
Preheat oven to 375°. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Combine brown sugar and butter, beat until light and fluffy, beat in egg, and vanilla. Add flour mixture, then oats to butter mixture, stir in apples. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 min until brown.
Green Salad With Apples By Mcdougal’s Orchards
(10 servings)
Vinaigrette:
¼ cup (apple cider) vinegar
3 tablespoons finely minced shallot or onion
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons honey
½ olive or canola oil
Other ingredients:
12 cups salad greens (lettuces of various types plus other salad greens)
1 crisp, red-skinned apple, quartered, cored, thinly sliced.
Combine vinegar, shallot or onion, mustard & honey in a small bowl. Add oil and whisk until well blended. Season vinaigrette to taste with salt & pepper.
Combine greens and apple in a large bowl. Drizzle with vinaigrette and toss to coat.
Easy Fruit Salad
(Serves 2 or 3)
Core and dice 1 apple. Peel, section and cut one orange into bite-sized pieces. Slice one banana. Mix together with a couple of spoonfuls of any flavor low-fat yogurt in a medium bowl.
Serve with dried, sweetened cranberries and/or toasted almonds, if you like.