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After you've stuffed yourself with Honeycrisps, Sweet Tangos, and Jonagolds at the farmers market, you should start thinking about ways to incorporate your favorite fall fruit into your daily meals. From puffed apple pancake for breakfast, to stuffed streusel apples for dessert, plus savory goodness like a roasted apple and winter squash soup, here are plenty of ways to get your apple fix this fall.
You can find apples to eat and cook with all year round, but you get the best variety in the fall. Apples are an incredible ingredient to use in recipes because they are inexpensive and are easy to work with. They also offer a wonderful sweetness to any recipe.
But before you go off gallivanting in the farmers market in search for apples to use in these recipes, you should know they are not all created equal. Some apples are best for baking, while others are best eaten on their own. Read this guide for finding the best apples for all your baking needs.
So which recipe will you make first? Will you delve into the apple loaf, or start of strong with an apple pie? Here are 17 recipes to get you started.
Apples for Breakfast
Apples for Dessert
Apples for Lunch, Dinner, Snacks & More
Apples are one of our favorite fruits to bake with — they're inexpensive, easy to find, available year round, and last a long time. Whether they're baked into a pie, grated into muffins, or shingled into a beautiful tart, this fruit can do it all. But not all apples are designed for baking, so here's what you need to know!
Texture Is Key
When baking with apples, you need to keep in mind that texture is really important. Good baking apples have a balance of intense sweet-tart flavor and will not fall apart when thrown into the oven. They should hold their shape and not turn into mush — remember, you're not making applesauce!
Also remember that sometimes baking apples don't taste so great raw and out of hand but are delicious once baked up. Since there are so many apple varieties out there and what's available to you may be very region dependent, here's a list of some of our favorites.
Good Apples for Baking
- Baldwin
- Braeburn
- Cameo
- Cortland
- Empire
- Fuji
- Gala
- Golden Delicious
- Granny Smith
- Honeycrisp
- Honey Gold
- Jonagold
- Jonathan
- Melrose
- Mutsu (Crispin)
- Northern Spy
- Opalescent
- Orin
- Pink Lady (Cripps Pink)
- Rome Beauty
- Rhode Island Greening
- Winesap
Tips for Baking with Apples
- Variety. Using a blend of tart and sweet apples makes for a more complex-testing pie. A blend of apples will also contribute varying textures.
- Chopping. When cutting up apples for quick breads and muffins, cut some of the pieces smaller so they "melt" more into the batter as they cook and break down.
What apples do you like to bake with?
Falling for autumn we are; the cozy, warm harvest comes as a welcome reprise from the fruity wiles of summer. Crisp red apples, hearty sundry squashes, hot spices and comforting soups, what a celebratory time of plenty filled with gratitude for the fruitfulness of life and deliciousness wafting in the wind.
Here are our chosen autumnal evening snack recipes, designed to give you the sustained energy you need to take care of yourself, your family and your work – with some left over for playing in the leaves.
1. Apple Cranberry Baked Brie
Slice a wheel of Brie cheese (with rind) in half. Top the bottom half of the circle (sliced edge up) with a mixture of 2 tablespoons maple syrup, one tablespoon unsalted melted butter, one small chopped apple, ⅓ cup sliced natural almonds and ⅓ cup dried cranberries, saving a bit of the mix to go on top as garnish. Put the top section of Brie back on and bake at 350°F for 7 minutes. Garnish with the remaining fruit and nut mixture and serve with table-water crackers.
This easy and delicious soup is a great appetizer at an autumn dinner or on its own for a filling afternoon snack. Puree 2 cups of cooked pumpkin (or you can used canned) along with 4 cups vegetable stock, ½ cup milk, one tablespoon butter, one tablespoon Bragg’s seasoning and ¼ cup dry milk. Heat until boiling, and enjoy!
3. Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal Deluxe
Cook steel-cut oats according to package directions, then add any (or all!) of the following for a warm autumn snack that will keep you going for hours: butter, cream, brown sugar or maple syrup, chopped apples or applesauce, roasted nuts, raisins or dried fruit, plus a dash of cinnamon and salt.
4. Baked Squash Rings
Cut an acorn squash (any color) into ½” rings, discarding the seeds and membrane. Arrange slices in large baking dish, pour ½ cup of orange juice over the rings, cover with them loosely with foil and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes. While the rings are baking, combine ¼ cup brown sugar and 2 tablespoons each maple syrup and butter in a saucepan. Bring it to boil and simmer for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. Brush this mixture over the squash slices and continue to bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes or until the squash is tender and lightly browned.
5. Harvest Salad
Top your favorite greens with half of a chopped Granny Smith apple and ¼ cup each of dried sweetened cranberries and roasted walnuts. Crumble 1-2 ounces of blue cheese on the salad, and then finish it off with creamy balsamic vinaigrette for a delicious salad that is bursting with different fall flavors.
6. Apple Dip
This easy dip is great for apples or any kind of fruit. Combine one 8-ounce carton of sour cream with two tablespoons brown sugar and a half-teaspoon of cinnamon. Stir in ½ cup of toasted pecans or walnuts, and enjoy with your favorite kind of apple!
Pumpkin is packed with nutrients, and these yummy pancakes are super moist and perfect for a leisurely brunch. Prepare pancake batter as usual. Add half a can of pumpkin-pie mix to the batter for each four servings of pancakes you are making. Top with maple syrup plus a handful of roasted pecans. Great for breakfast, an afternoon treat or a dinnertime dessert!
After you carve a pumpkin, don’t throw out the seeds! Instead, rinse them and cook on a greased baking sheet for 25-35 minutes at 325°F, stirring about every five minutes. Flavor simply with salt and pepper or get creative with other spices like cayenne, cumin and chili powder.
Roast 8 ounces of pecan halves in 350°F oven for 4 minutes; stir, then roast for another 4 minutes (you can brush the pecans with butter before you roast them for added flavor). Cool completely, then salt the nuts lightly and combine with 4 ounces of dried, sweetened cranberries and 4 ounces of dried, sweetened apples. If you have a sweet tooth, you can add Reese’s pieces, candy corn or autumn-colored M&Ms.
10. Baked Apples with Cranberry Sauce
Preheat oven to 350°. Core four Granny Smith apples to within ½” of the bottom. Mix together ¼ cup whole-berry cranberry sauce or relish, 2 tablespoons brown sugar and ½ teaspoon cinnamon, and then stuff into the apples. Put apples in baking dish and cover with foil. Bake in middle of oven until very tender when pierced and still intact, 1 to 1 1/4 hours (start checking apples for doneness at 45 minutes). Serve alone or topped with vanilla ice cream and a handful of toasted walnuts.
The garden doesn’t have to stop producing just because summer is waning. In fact, August is the perfect time to add some variety and get a second season harvest from your space. Plant these garden favorites and harvest right through the fall and have plenty to preserve for winter as well.
If you haven’t grown kale yet, there is no time like the present. Start it now and in many zones you’ll be able to harvest right through the winter months. In fact, a bit of frost will just make these tasty greens even sweeter.
Cooler temperatures are on the way, and that’s perfect for lettuce. Plant now for fresh salad greens (and reds) for weeks and months to come.
Believe it or not there is still plenty of time for another round of beans. Select fast growing varieties and get ready to preserve the bounty because beans love this time of year almost as much as I do.
Radishes are one of the fastest growing garden vegetables, usually ready from seed to table in less than a month. Plant a few rows every two weeks for fresh radishes all season.
Spinach thrives in the cooler temps of fall, and getting those seeds in the ground now will give them plenty of time to get a strong root system before the weather cools off.
Apple Sandwiches with Honeyed Peanut Butter, Oats & Raisins
