Happy Apple Season!

I love the autumn season because it means an abundance of delicious apples fresh from the orchard, which means lots of cooking and baking with apples. Below are a few of the apple recipes I've used recently with suggestions on ways to improve or just enjoy!

Simple Stuff
Grilled Cheese with apples: I use fresh sourdough bread from the bakery, slices of monterey jack cheese, and slice up any sweet apples I have on hand to make a delicious grilled sandwich for a quick dinner.

Apple Spinach salad: Another easy one for lunch or to accompany dinner, just mix spinach, chopped walnuts, slices of your favorite apple, and poppy seed dressing.

Entertaining
Cheddar and Hard Cider fondue: I make this when I have large get togethers with friends (I usually double the recipe and use two fondue pots). We prefer to use Strongbow or Woodchuck hard cider, Jim Beam, and instead of the gruyere cheese (which can be expensive) we use a mix of swiss, fontina, and/or emmentaler. For dipping: apple sausage, apple slices, and potatoes.

Dinner
Braised Pork and Apple Stew: Very simple, the only thing I change is cutting up the vegetables a little smaller so it's easier to eat when served. Perfect for a chilly autumn day.

Chicken with Apple, Onion, and Cider Sauce: I increased the amount of chicken breasts to 6 (because I had more people to serve), but kept the amounts used for the sauce because it made an adequate amount for six people. I also sprinkled my chicken with fresh rosemary before baking. One thing I would be sure to check is that your apples aren't getting too done; mine ended up a bit mushy because I left them on the stove too long while the chicken was finishing in the oven.

Apple Ginger Pork Chops: I like this better than the chicken recipe above because it's got a little more flavor. I used Haralson apples instead of Granny Smith because I had Haralsons on hand, and I also used boneless pork chops and skipped the raisins. For even more apple flavor, I would use a light apple wine to deglaze the pan.

Desserts
Apple Coffee Cake with Crumble Topping and Brown Sugar Glaze: Soooo goooood! I added more apples than the recipe calls for (per user comments on the website) and also boiled the glaze mixture for a few minutes to dissolve the sugar granules (also per user comments). Fantastic warm, but also good the next day with vanilla ice cream.

The Apple Lady's Apple Cake: aka Gateau aux Pommes de la Reine des Pommes. I first made this for French class food day in high school. While it was good, it is definitely better warm right out of the oven. The reason I bought a spring form pan.

Drink
Hot Apple Cider with Rum: A delicious way to warm up in the evening. I don't typically garnish with cinnamon sticks, but it is delicious either way. Put all the ingredients (minus the orange, I don't like the texture it adds to the drink) in a crock pot and let it warm during dinner so you have a warm after-dinner drink ready to go. 

Finally, I have to give a shout out to Pine Tree Apple Orchard. Without them I wouldn't have dozens of apples to cook and bake with, nor would I have their scrumptous apple turnovers stocked for the months of September, October, and November. If you live in Minnesota, you have to check them out.

Happy Apple Season!