9/12/18 Cook’s
Corner
Betty Kaiser
Time flies! It seems
like just yesterday it was June and we were planting flowers and tomatoes while
looking forward to summer days, barbecues, peaches and watermelon. Now, I am so
done with summer and ready for the weather to get a little cooler and put the
gardens to bed.
My first “foodie” thought
for the soon-to-be Fall season is always apples!
Oregon is a great
place to grow (and buy) apples. There are so many ways to use the old Johnny
Appleseed favorite that it’s hard to know where to begin. Of course, we can all
heed the adage that “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” and often have one
for lunch.
Thanks to the mild
weather and abundant rainfall Oregon orchards produce over 21 apple varieties. Gala
and Fuji are the most abundant crops. But
each variety has just a little different appearance and taste. Check out these
newer ones.
Fuji’s are a
Japanese creation and have been around since the 1980s. Their parents are the
American Red Delicious and the Ralls Janet. They are large with speckled pink.
They are sweet and very juicy and come fresh on the market from Oct. to Dec.
Good for making sugar-free applesauce.
Galas are another
favorite. They are medium-sized with a range of colors. They are a cross
between a Golden Delicious and a Kidd’s Orange Red. I like them for eating out
of hand or cooking. They ripen early and store well.
Honeycrisps have
been around about 20 years but they are excellent ready-to-eat apples right out
of the refrigerator. Their flat tops and
bottoms highlight their red peel with light green or yellow. They start to
ripen about now and are good keepers.
I started making
small batches of homemade apple sauce when my kids were little. Golden or Red
Delicious apples would get kind of old and it was quick to mix up a batch for dinner
to go with pork chops, etc. One year I tried canning a small batch mixed with a
couple of Granny Smiths. It worked so well that applesauce canning became my regular
Fall ritual.
The following apple
sauce recipe is a mixture of 3 or more old-fashioned apples. First I use some Granny
Smiths that have bright green skin, are firm, subtly sweet and crisp in
texture. Also, some Gravensteins, a tart, green, end-of-summer apple that can
be baked, sautéed, roasted or slow cooked and pureed. Then I add the national
apple of Canada—McIntosh apples. They have red and green skin, a tart flavor
and tender flesh. They ripen in late Sept. and are perfect for pies or sauce.
Check out my
home-grown recipe below along with my mother’s recipe for Old Fashioned
Applesauce Cookies. Everyone loves them and they are great in back-to-school
lunches.
BETTY’S APPLESAUCE
(Can be frozen or canned)
12-14 large apples,
peeled and coarsely chopped (about 6 ½ pounds)
Note: I use a
mixture of 3 varieties of apples in the sauce.
3-4 cups water
2-1/2 cups sugar
(can be a mixture of brown and white)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Peel and core apples
and put in a bowl of cold water with lemon. Drain.
Put apples and water
in a Dutch oven (large pot) and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat
and simmer, stirring often with a potato masher (!) until apples are tender and
translucent and juices thicken.
Mash apples with a
potato masher until desired texture is reached. Add sugar to taste and cinnamon;
stir until dissolved. Serve warm or chilled. If Canning, process according to
your canner’s instructions. Yield: unknown. It all depends on the apples.
Note: We use an old-fashioned
apple peeler gadget. It works like a charm because my husband does it!
OLD-FASHIONED
APPLESAUCE COOKIES
½ cup shortening (not margarine)
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 cups flour, sifted
1-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup sweetened applesauce
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Cream the shortening and sugar
together. After they are well blended, add the egg to the mixture and beat
until light and fluffy.
Sift the flour together with the
cinnamon, cloves, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Add the sifted
ingredients alternating with the applesauce to the creamed mixture and blend together.
Add the raisins and nuts and mix until
blended. Drop by teaspoons onto greased cookie baking sheets. Can be iced
later.
Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 15
to 20 minutes until well browned. Cool on wire racks. Makes about 3-4 dozen
depending on size of cookies.
Keep it simple and seasonal@Betty Kaiser's Cook's Corner
