Apple-ly Ever After

Ah, apples. The symbol for New York. The gift that you give a teacher. The logo of a tech company that knows our every move and thought.

And also, it’s one of the stars of fall. I mean Trey Kennedy is really the star of fall, but food speaking-apple and pumpkin are neck in neck.

Kat

Call me a child or a nursing home patient, but I love applesauce. TGI Friday’s used to have a strawberry applesauce that came with their kids’ chicken fingers meal, and man, talk about chef’s kiss. Red Lobster’s kids’ meals also had applesauce with them, and I used to love dipping my cheddar biscuit in that applesauce. Don’t knock it until you try it. Anyone else want to be middle class fancy with me and visit either of the above establishments? Just slide into my DMs.

Anyway, I have made applesauce in my crockpot before, but it called for a LOT of sugar. This recipe from Skinnytaste did not. It was my after school snack for about a week, AND my house smelled AMAZING while it cooked. Win. Win.

Step one: Gather your apples.

Chop 8-10 apples and add 5 tsp. brown sugar, 1 (or 2) cinnamon stick(s), 1 tsp. lemon juice, and 1 lemon peel.

Turn your crockpot on low for six hours.

Listen to the Lumineers while your house smells like Heaven.

Blend the apples with an immersion blender or add in small batches to your standing blender.

Could it be easier? I think not.

Caroline

I feel as though I’m cheating on Autumn with this recipe suggestion because it also includes a summer vegetable. However, we live in Georgia, and while the temperature is glorious today, I’m sure next week we will be in bikinis again. So, this recipe is still valid for the next few weeks.

Apple Zucchini Bread from Ambitious Kitchen

-1 cup shredded zucchini
-1 cup unsweetened applesauce
-2 eggs
-1/2 cup maple syrup
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-1/4 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled
-1 3/4 AP flour
-1 tsp. baking soda
-1 tsp. cinnamon (This is what recipe calls for, but I added an extra tsp. and was glad I made that decision.)
-1/2 tsp. allspice
-1/2 tsp. ginger
-1/4 tsp. nutmeg
-1/4 tsp. salt

-1 medium apple roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
-1/3 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)

1. Squeeze out as much water as possible from zucchini.
2. Mix zucchini, eggs, syrup, applesauce, and vanilla. Then add coconut oil and mix.
3. Mix dry ingredients and to wet ingredients then fold in apples and nuts.
4. Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. Maybe it was my oven, but I definitely needed to lean closer to 50 minutes..maybe even a tad less.
5. Also, if you’re not using a parchment paper sling when you bake in your bread pan, (or any baking pan) start now. It’s so helpful. You just line up a big piece of parchment paper along the edge of your pan and cut. Spraying your pan first will help the paper stick to the pan. Then when your bread is done and cooled for 10 minutes, you can pull it out with the sling.

Once your bread is completely cooled, beat 4 oz. softened cream cheese, 2 Tbs. room temperature butter, 3/4 cups, powdered sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, and 1-3 tsp. milk at medium speed until smooth. Spread over bread and sprinkle with pecans or walnuts.

If a transitional cardigan were a food, it would be this.

We’re apple-solutely glad you stopped by today.