Fall is Coming

It's turning into Fall here, I swear! The weather has turned from sweltering 100+ degree heat to balmy high 60's days. And even though Fall is my favorite season I'm missing summer already.

We've been on a bit of a dessert kick lately. Thinking ahead to the apple season has me wishing it was already here. I'll usually make a bunch of pies up from the apple orchard we visit. My mom has a nice trick of using Tapioca grains to make the filling thick without being starchy. It's a great thickener to have on hand.


Apple Pie Filling
6 large apples, peeled and sliced thin
2 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp Tapioca

Mix all together in a bowl and add to premade pie crust. Bake to instructions. Top with caramel.

Something to look forward to

We recently made a fun little purchase from Bed, Bath, and Beyond… a dehydrator. It’s a noisy little bugger but it works just as well as my oven and frees up space. The first thing we tried was apples and banana chips.

I wasn’t quite sure how thick to cut everything, but hey, it’s a learning process! The apples while a little large, are delicately sweet and have a really nice balance being crispy without tasting too dry. I'm looking forward to the fall when I can stock up on small apple varieties and make a batch large enough to share with friends. They make a nice little dessert without being too filling and are yummy on cereal or even in salads.

I added a coating to the apples, but left the bananas raw. I was surprised how long the drying process for fruit actually took. I did venison jerky just the other day and it took much less time, so if you are trying out a dehydrator for the first time I would recommend accounting time for the longest setting your machine recommends. Just so you’re not getting up at 4am like someone I know….

Harvest Apple Chips
Apples, semi peeled and sliced into circles
Lemon juice
Cinnamon
Nutmeg, freshly grated

Combine lemon juice and spices to coat apples with to keep them from browning. Place in dehydrator and bake to your own machine specifications. Turn once during the drying process.
Let cool and store in an air tight container.

Apple Cranberry Crumble: The Beginning

Autumn is my favorite season, trust me, you'll hear that a lot. The changing of the leaves, the cooling from summer, the savory meals that follow.

This fall we traveled to northern Wisconsin and witnessed some of the most beautiful landscapes that I can remember. Growing up in the north woods gave me an appreciation for nature that has always stayed with me. Since we lived in a refurbished cabin on a lake supermarket shopping was a luxury we did not enjoy. Instead we made our breads from scratch, canned our own sauces, and on occasion stopped at local farm stands for produce.

This is where I found myself 17 years later. At a small wayside cart filled with fall squash and newly picked apples. Produce like this would be an arm and a leg in the cities, so we bought all our house would handle. A whopping 5 dollars worth!

The gourds now peek from every corner, while the apples have turned over 3 deserts and counting. Luckily Wisconsin also boasts a large cranberry source, so what better to go with the small green apples.

Note: When making apple deserts that call for cinnamon, I substitute cinnamon decoration beads (about 4 or 5 for this recipe) They give the same flavor and also add a festive red color to the mixture.


Apple Cranberry Crumble

4 small Apples, Golden Delicious recommended
2 tbsp butter, unsalted
1 1/2 cup cranberries
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp corn starch

Cream Cheese Crust

8 oz, half package cream cheese
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter, unsalted
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Crumble

2 tbsp butter, unsalted
1/2 cup brown sugar

Mix the crust together and chill. Peel apples, remove core, and slice into thick pieces. In a sauce pan heat the apples together with cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. Once the apples are slightly soft add corn starch mixed with 1/2 cup of water. Remove from heat and let cool. The corn starch mixture will thicken, add more water if too think or clumpy.
Cook cranberries by direction. If fresh cranberries are used, boil with 1/2 cup of water and sugar till skins pop. Remove from heat and cool.
In a shallow baking pan spread crust out on the bottom. Cut the apples up into small chunks. Layer cranberries and then apples over the crust. Mix crumble together and sprinkle on top.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees covered for 20 minutes, remove cover and bake for another 5-10 minutes. Let cool slightly and serve with vanilla ice cream.